2011 Subaru Wrx on 2040-cars

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Subaru takes another look back, this time at the 2004 WRX STI

Here we have the followup to the rally-mimicking Impreza 22B STI that Subaru recently chronicled in its Vintage Garage series: the 2004 Impreza WRX STI. Displacement for the boxer four was upped from 2.2 liters to 2.5, and after noticing how many buyers had installed larger turbochargers on their WRXs, Subaru decided to bolt on one in-house. That gave the final product 300 horsepower and a 0-to-60 mile-per-hour run of just 4.6 seconds.
It was stiffer, it's body from nose to front doors was penned by Peter Stephens, he of the McLaren F1, it came with a driver-controlled center differential, driver-activated cooling spray for the turbos and 300 pound-feet of torque. This is a curio from a time when, after a new WRX STI came out, you started poring through magazines to see how the Mitubishi Evo was going to respond. You can find out more about it in the video below.

Subaru reveals WRX STI racecar for 24 Hours of N"urburgring [w/video]

Subaru has announced that it will be running a race-spec version of the upcoming WRX STI in the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring in June. The 2014 race will mark the seventh year in a row that Subaru has campaigned a car at the day-long Ring race, but this will be the first race outing for the new WRX STI, which isn't set to debut until next week at the Detroit Auto Show.
Subaru will be in the SP3T class, for turbocharged engines displacing 1.75 to 2.0 liters, and is targeting its third class win, after finishing second last year. To do that, it'll be going toe-to-toe with racing versions of cars from Audi, Volkswagen and Seat.
The team will be led by Hideharu Tatsumi, who was responsible for last year's team. Drivers will include Toshihiro Yoshida and Kouta Sasaki, while another pair of European drivers will be announced at a later date.

Subaru boosting US capacity thanks to strong sales

It is very, very good to be Subaru right now. The company is rolling, with its global operating profits increasing 21 percent last quarter. While part of that is due to favorable currency conditions, the simple fact is that Subaru is selling a hell of a lot of cars, particularly in North America. The company's North American branch is expected to hit its sales goal of 600,000 units per year five years ahead of schedule, after moving 570,000 units in the recently completed fiscal year (remember, the Japanese fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31). Last quarter alone, Subaru NA saw a 12 percent increase in sales, significantly more than either the company's home market or the increasingly vital Chinese market, where sales declined by one and 14 percent, respectively. With such promising results, it's no surprise that Fuji Heavy Industries President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga announced plans to bump up production at the company's Indiana factory. Yoshinaga-san is pushing for annual capacity of 394,000 units by the end of calendar year 2016, Automotive News reports, adding that inventory levels in the US are too low. "If only we had more cars, we could be selling more," Yoshinaga told AN during a news conference. FHI's previous plans for the factory were much less aggressive. Originally, production would be expanded to 328,000 units by 2017, AN reports, with an eye towards a full 400,000 units per year by 2021. With 394,000 rolling out of the Lafayette, IN factory by next year, though, it's clear how keen Subaru is to take advantage of such strong demand. News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Dave Umberger / Associated Press Earnings/Financials Subaru sales fuji heavy industries