Upcoming Tokyo Motor show, Subaru brings in BRZ, with a STi badge. The addition of STi badge means that concept will have the highest body trim—a race coupe type.

A typical street racer, with the blue paint, this car is perhaps designed keeping the late night street races in mind.

According to Subaru, the “SUBARU BRZ CONCEPT – STi -” is a concept car based on the “SUBARU BRZ”, an all-new rear-wheel drive (RWD) compact sports car developed from an ongoing joint-project between Subaru and Toyota Motor Corporation. Built with Subaru’s core technology of the Horizontally-Opposed Boxer engine, this model has a low center of gravity that realizes a “Pure Handling Delight” driving experience. Combined with motifs of Subaru’s iconic performance brand “STi”, the concept car embodies an ultimate handling performance.

But, what difference does the STi badge make? And what’s STi?

Subaru Tecnica International or STi is Fuji Heavy Industries’ motorsports division. STi, along with Prodrive of the UK specializes in the preparation of a variety of vehicles for the Subaru World Rally Team which competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). It was founded in 1988 by Fuji Heavy Industries, the parent company of Subaru, to promote the company’s performance-oriented identity.

Now, perhaps you have a got a hint about the vehicle built under STi badge.

The STi offers many advantages over the cars which do not have the badge, such as a six-speed manual transmission with a helical limited slip front differential, driver controlled center differential, IHI VF39 turbocharger (VF43 in 2007, VF48 from 2008 on), BBS lightweight alloy wheels, a mechanical rear limited slip differential and Brembo brakes. Basically, it provides the vehicle with a 2.5 liter engine with a power of 300 horses and 410 Nm of torque. The STi also offers Recaro style seats and a MOMO steering wheel. Moreover, STi designs upgraded parts, mostly suspension related, for use on other Subaru vehicles.

So, we expect some of these figures and specs are coming up in the new prototype BRZ.

Racing experience from Outside: (Exterior)

In front, the concept features sharpened bumper corners and wider, blacked-out fog lamp to accentuate the “wide and low” profile. A sharply-slanted spoiler with three-dimensional detailing emphasizes the cars’ sporty intent. The newly designed front grille with black base and blacked-out Subaru wing highlights the headlights’ shape to give the entire front end a more powerful appearance, accentuated by larger grille and bumper intake openings.

The top piece of the production front grille is body color matched and the bottom of the grille features two slats instead of mesh. The side vent area is filled in by round fog lights and what may be an LED light stripe.

Newly designed wider rear fenders are stretched out on the side beyond the tail lamps, accentuating a look of power and stability. The new design details contribute to an improved drag coefficient.

Detailed view:

Let’s look at the each detailing this awesome piece of machine has got.

The concept is already a highly optimized performance machine with specific chassis tuning. Front lower arms reduce unsprung vehicle weight. Major chassis tuning changes include a lowered ride height and new pillow-ball bushings in front and stiffer bushings for the rear sub frame that supports the double-wishbone suspension – these improve stiffness accordingly.

New standard 18-inch aluminum wheels feature high-luster paint and weigh around 17.6 pounds lesser than the standard wheels. The optional 18 x 8.5-inches. BBS forged aluminum-alloy wheels, are also offered, which further reduce unsprung vehicle weight, and are highlighted by silver high-luster paint.

The Brembo Performance Brake System uses ventilated 4-wheel Super Sport anti-lock (ABS) disc brakes with Electronic Brake-force Distribution (EBD). Super Sport ABS can control the braking forces at each rear wheel independently, which optimizes braking ability during hard cornering to help reduce understeer.

Ultimate-performance:

Subaru might also hit BRZ with its high-boost 305-hp turbocharged/intercooled 4-cylinder Boxer engine and 6-speed manual transmission for ultimate performance.

We also expect some advanced dynamic control systems, as well: like the Multi-Mode Vehicle Dynamics Control (VDC) stability and traction control system is standard and features a track performance-optimized mode; along with Subaru Intelligent Drive (SI-DRIVE) technology which allows the driver to tailor the car’s driving characteristics by choosing from among three selectable modes – “Intelligent,” “Sport” and “Sport Sharp” – using a rotary dial on the center console.

Racing Experience from Inside: (Interior)

A bit of a Spartan interior, so that’s Subaru’s focus on the driving experience. For example, the tachometer is front and center and the largest gauge, the shifter is close and readily at hand, and the pedal placement will allow for easy heel-toe driving.

Summing up on the Prototype, with the words of Tom Doll, executive vice president and COO of Subaru of America, Inc. “The continuous evolution and development of the Subaru STi is driven by the strong, loyal and vocal support from thousands of enthusiastic would –be- owners of this exciting high-performance vehicle. “

For us, let’s hope it expands the appeal of this iconic performance STi to a wider range of driving enthusiasts