What Does Subaru's STI Badge Stand For?

Founded in 1988, Subaru Tecnica International — STI — is a subsidiary of Subaru the automaker, launched to both engineer official Subaru racecars and bring that same spirit to the brand's production vehicles. So it's comparable to Mercedes-Benz' AMG division, Nissan's Nismo, and the SRT brand that Stellantis' new leader is bringing back to North America. It's all about winning on Sunday to sell on Monday, as the old saying goes. Which is something Subaru actually had some experience before introducing STI.

The company's first factory-backed racer was a Subaru Leone, sold as the "GL" in America, that competed in the Southern Cross Rally in Australia in 1972. By 1980, Subaru was introducing the four-wheel-drive entry in the World Championship Rally series, eventually going on to win multiple WRC titles under the guidance of STI.

As for the first car STI developed, that was the 1989 Subaru Legacy RS RA that set a world record for endurance driving. Subaru took the car to a track in Arizona where, over the course of 20 days, it racked up 60,000 miles at an average speed of 138 mph.

And while Subaru has dropped STI models from the current retail lineup, and is remaining on the sidelines for the WRC, that may be changing. There's a new limited-edition STI coming amid hints of a full-on resurgence from the label.

That fact that Subaru's first motorsport entry was in a rally, and that its first STI car was a long-distance runner, set the tone for some of the brand's biggest motorsports success. After bringing 4WD to the WRC in 1980, it dominated the next decade — and then some — with the Subaru Impreza. This included winning the WRC driver's and manufacturer's titles in 1995, taking home the maker's championship again in 1996 and 1997, and capturing the driver's trophy again in 2001 and 2003.

Subaru reined in its racing efforts a few years later, mostly for financial reasons that weren't helped by the global meltdown of 2008. But during that time, Subaru started taking on the 24 Hours of Nürburgring endurance race and notched seven class victories between 2011 and 2024 with WRX racers. Nowadays, Subaru also remains a common sight in the winner's circle of many major regional series. For example, it's a key competitor with the Subaru BRZ in Japan's Super GT300 series, wins pro rally championships with the WRX throughout the U.S., and helped put on a show at the 2024 Goodwood hillclimb.

Given that the whole point of STI is to bring motorsports engineering to the brand's production cars, you have to think that more STI production cars are, in fact, on their way. For one, the 2025 Subaru WRX STI S210 is real, and it's spectacular — for the most part. It doesn't offer a manual transmission, or much of an increase in power, but it does sport upgrades for the brakes, suspension, cooling, and aerodynamics, plus it welcomes carbon-fiber Recaro seats and BBS forged-aluminum wheels. Our Collin Woodard said "there should actually be some noticeable improvements on the track" as a result.

It's a small step for STI — especially since the WRX STI S210 is limited to 500 units worldwide — but the next move could see a bigger leap in a newer direction. David Dello Stritto, general manager for marketing and public relations at Subaru Europe, explained to Autocar recently: "Ask the average person what Subaru means and they'll say STI. You can't disassociate this from Subaru. So we need to bring sportiness back to Subaru."

As to what form that would take, well, let's remember that when Subaru made a really, really fast electric concept car in 2022, it was called the STI E-RA. If traditionalists are upset that the special edition STI is automatic transmission only, wait until they find out that the next STI car could be an EV.