Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Trickle-Down Economics, Subaru Style

Today Subaru announced that the 2011 WRX sedan will get a wide body look that borrows the front fenders of the current STI hatchback.  The car will be on display at the up-coming New York Auto Show.

What does this mean?  Well, besides the obvious benefit of a 1.5"-wider track for WRX sedan buyers (the car also gets a more aggressive front end, blacked-out grille, and wider 17 x 8" wheels), it seems to me that it would be easy and cheap to just make an STI sedan, now that the body work is taken care of.  Our customers have pined for the lack of an STI sedan since the old one retired back in 2007.  I hope they haven't been holding their collective breath since then, but I'd wager there will be a 2011 STI sedan available alongside the hatch.

We've been working with our suppliers to get larger and wider wheels available for the current WRX STI -- now we'll renew those efforts, since the wider WRX will also allow for those bigger fitments.  (We've seen STI hatch models run wheels as wide as 10".)