With Subaru having officially axed the STI, the existing population of such rally-bred street cars is only getting more valuable. Still, what about a new one? This sort of development is possible, albeit not from the Japanese carmaker itself. Instead, British racecar developer Prodrive announced a modern iteration of the legendary Impreza-based 22B last month. Dubbed P25, the vehicle is set to land later this month at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Meanwhile, though, a designer who seems unrelated to the companies has rendered the P25 to help with the wait.
In 1997, Subaru grabbed its third consecutive manufacturer’s title in the World Rally Championship (WRC)—it was working with Prodrive back then. As a celebration of the victory and Subaru’s 40th birthday, the automaker’s motorsport arm, Subaru Tecnica International (STI), took an Impreza WRX STI and turned it into the 22B the following year.
Note that the season saw WRC regulations taking over from Group A and ushering in a new era for rallying, one that, as mentioned, Subaru tied to its trophy cabinet from the get-go.
The limited model, which used a coupe as a starting point, had a dedicated widebody and larger wheels to honor the WRC program. The WRX STI’s 2.0L turbo-four was bored to 2.2 liters, with the output being listed at 276 hp (280 PS) but only because Japan’s carmakers respected a Gentleman’s Agreement in that era. However, the motor is said to make over 300 hp.
The Prodrive P25—the name talks about how many years have passed since the legendary WRC win— promises to build on an Impreza coupe, making extensive use of carbon fiber—as you may have guessed by now, this is a limited edition, high-profile machine. The vehicle will use a Subaru 2.5L boxer massaged to 400 hp, which will skip the muse’s five-speed manual in favor of a semi-automatic paddle-shift gearbox (think: a sequential).
A Pininfarina designer came up with this Prodrive P25 rendering as a hobby
Digital artist Facundo Castellano (aka FCD94) who is an exterior designer at Pininfarina, came up with these renderings in his spare time. And while he did tag the British company in the first Instagram post below, the man doesn’t mention the P25 directly.
As the penning master shows, the connection to the 22B is clearly present—note that Prodrive only showed the OG, without giving us any visual hint on how the newcomer’s appearance.
Castellano used Subaru’s current design language. And, if you factor in the compact size and the coupe body style, it’s only natural to also view this pixel work from another perspective: a heavily-reworked Subaru BRZ. Hey, these squarish fenders remind us of the Pandem Rocket Bunny kit for the RWD sports car.
Of course, the P25 is expected to be built around the idea of AWD, so we mustn’t digress. So, returning to this rendering, if you’ve made rally car noises in your head while checking out the image portraying the car fighting the gravel, you should know you’re not alone in your fantasy.
Prodrive is making only 25 of these modernized uber-Imprezas
In the comments section of the Prodrive Instagram post below, the specialist confirms the P25 will be road-legal. However, with just 25 units scheduled to be produced, you’ll be lucky if you come across one, not to mention getting behind the wheel.
However, the specialist, who is building the vehicle at its Banbury facility in the UK, is inviting potential owners to contact the company in the post.
