The iconic Japanese-built Subaru WRX is not long for this world…at least in the home market.
A little over a decade ago, Mitsubishi made the fateful (and to enthusiasts, devastating) decision to discontinue a legend: the Lancer Evolution X. That decision has left sparring partner Subaru as the go-to option for most folks wanting an all-wheel drive, rally-bred sports car, but even that appears to be in some jeopardy — at least in Japan.
Through its official consumer website, Subaru noted it would stop accepting orders for the WRX in its home market, as well as its Levorg and Layback wagon/crossover derivatives, this spring. Specifically, the books for the Levorg and Layback will close on April 13, with the sedan following suit in May. While the nameplates may not be gone entirely, the current WRX will no longer be an option for Japanese buyers, while the S4 STI Sport could be well and truly dead “with the current model”, as pointed out by the team over at CarScoops.
First things first: why is Subaru killing off the current WRX in its home market? Japanese outlets like Creative Trend report that the 2.4-liter turbocharged flat-four engine that’s in global market WRX variants will no longer meet emissions or noise regulations put forth by the country’s government. So, the FA24F as we currently know it is out, with 2027-and-forward WRX trims looking like they’ll get a different powertrain, along with whatever other changes Subaru might have in mind for a mid-cycle or generational update.
It’s worth noting the STI Sport# (or ‘Sport Sharp‘), is still moving ahead in its limited production run. This news doesn’t impact the 600 units slated for that specific trim, so those will still go out before Subaru scraps the current-gen WRX models by May 2026.
What could the WRX’s Japanese prospects mean for the U.S. version?
To be clear, Subaru made no announcements whatsoever about U.S. market implications related to its Japanese market shuffling. For the time being, we’ll still get the same turbocharged engine, same transmission options and same trims as before. In fact, after jacking up the price by several thousand dollars last year, the company had a bit of a rethink and dropped the starting MSRP for 2026, including its reintroduction of the base trim level.
Here’s the rub, though: Subaru builds the WRX at its Yajima plant in Gunma prefecture, Japan. Do you know what else it builds at the Gunma Yajima plant? The new, Toyota bZ Woodland-derived Trailseeker EV. Now, the company notes the in-house production at that plant is a “mixed-model” line, meaning it’s perfectly capable of building both electric cars and gasoline cars without issue. Nevertheless, the state of the current WRX in the Japanese market and the potential to shift available production is raising questions about what might happen with the WRX globally, and we don’t yet have a comprehensive answer to that question.
