Hot UK Subaru STI not for Australia

SUBARU UK has announced a hardcore power upgrade for the all-wheel-drive WRX STI sedan that slashes half a second from its 0-100km/h sprint time, but it appears off the menu for Australia.

The booster kit, which can be fitted to new cars or applied to existing models retroactively without jeopardising the warranty, adds a revised ECU and a new exhaust system to the turbocharged 2.5-litre horizontally opposed four-cylinder ‘Boxer’ engine.

This increases power by 29kW and torque by a whopping 83Nm, taking outputs to 250kW and 490Nm respectively, slashing the standing sprint time to just 4.7 seconds.

The 340R upgrade is available alongside the less extreme 320R kit which, like the 340 version, is limited to the UK market. STIs with the 320R upgrade have a less extreme output of 235kW and 450Nm – still 14kW and 43Nm up on the standard model.

Subaru Australia national corporate affairs manager David Rowley told GoAuto there are no plans to offer the UK upgrade kit here.

Last week, Mitsubishi Australia announced price cuts of up to $8900 on its Lancer Evolution – the STI’s closest competitor – with the potent Mitsubishi now kicking off at $56,990 plus on-road costs, $3000 less than the Subaru.

Mr Rowley said he knew of no plans for Subaru Australia to cut prices in response to the challenge from Mitsubishi.

The next-generation STI and WRX performance models are not expected to appear in Australia until around the end of 2013, even though they are based on the previous-generation Impreza small car.