Subaru WRX STi due September

It's the month when the master blaster of the current lineup, the wide- body STi sedan complete with rally-style giant rear wing, hits Australia.  The STi sedan dominated sales of the go-faster Subaru Impreza models through its previous run in Australia, then went missing when Japan decided on a hatch-only sales policy for the current car.

But the USA went its own way, demanding a sedan, and it's now the building block for the upcoming local hero.  "It's set for September. It could even be late August, which would mean some hot August nights," says Nick Senior, managing director of Subaru Australia.

He says the STi sedan will have everything from the pumped-out guards of the latest 'wide body' WRX to a competition-style rear wing and bigger alloy wheels and brakes.  "It's more aggressive, it has the big wing," Senior says.  He is expecting a big boost to WRX sales when the STi hits, partly because of the car and partly as customers return to Subaru showrooms after the global financial crisis.

"We're probably selling 10-15 cars a month and we hope to lift that to around 50 when we launch the STi sedan. That market has been the one that's been most impacted by the GFC. It's more of a discretionary spend than any other model we have."

Senior says the regular WRX now also comes with a sedan body, a move is already giving a boost to sales. "We're selling two sedans for every hatch. That's consistent with WRX since we first launched it. For many years it was 90 per cent sedan in Australia.

"Over time we would expect 70-80 per cent of WRX sales will be sedans.  Globally, hot hatches are the thing in Europe but in Australia it's exactly the other way around. We're rather unique in that."