Subaru on Friday introduced that the current-generation Subaru WRX will not get a higher-performance STI mannequin for this era.

The explanation? The corporate is inspecting how “future sports activities and efficiency vehicles ought to evolve to satisfy the wants of the altering market and the laws and necessities for greenhouse gasses (GHG), zero emissions autos (ZEV), and Company Common Gasoline Economic system,” Subaru mentioned in an announcement.

As a part of that shift, the subsequent STI will not come off the platform of the newest WRX, which simply arrived earlier this yr. Whereas the brand new WRX rides on a model of the Subaru World Platform that serves every part from the Impreza compact sedan to Ascent mid-size crossover, Subaru says it’s farther afield of the Impreza platform than it has ever been. The rear construction is stiffer, and Subaru makes use of four-times as a lot physique adhesive to enhance enhance entrance lateral rigidity by 14% and general torsional rigidity by 28%. Apparently, solely the WRX will profit from these modifications.

Nevertheless, it does not seem the STI will fade away as the corporate mentioned it’s exploring alternatives for the subsequent STI, together with electrification. The corporate additionally mentioned it additionally seems “ahead to incorporating the essence of STI into our subsequent era of autos,” so maybe the rally-bred STI lineup will broaden or affect different autos.

Earlier this yr the corporate gave a powerful suggestion of the shape that may take—within the debut of an STI E-RA highway and racing idea, and within the show of a Solterra STI idea.

The information comes as a shock as we anticipated the subsequent STI to be revealed any time now after we drove the WRX earlier this yr. We anticipated a potential bump in horsepower from the 310 of the final mannequin, the usage of these adaptive dampers, and improved dealing with primarily based on the modifications to the WRX platform.

Maybe the transfer explains the addition of the GT mannequin atop the 2022 WRX lineup. The GT will characteristic adjustable dampers, a primary for the WRX, an up to date constantly variable automated transmission the corporate calls the Subaru Efficiency Transmission, a transmission cooler, and Recaro bucket seats. In the intervening time, that would be the finest performing WRX.