Subaru to launch XV STI Performance Pack

STI, SUBARU/FUJI Heavy Industries and Motor Image/Tan Chong executives pose beside the Subaru XV STI Performance Pack variant.

Subaru is one of the most exciting yet affordable car brands available in the Philippines as well as the entire Asean region, where it is distributed by Motor Image Inc., a division of Tan Chong International Ltd. (TCIL) based in Singapore. We all know and love their poster-boy model, fire-breathing WRX STI rally replica, as well as their bread-and-butter compact SUV model, the Forester. When the smaller Subaru XV crossover was added to the lineup, more and more people (particularly women who make up a large percentage of XV buyers) made a beeline to the nearest Subaru dealership.

With the trend for compact crossover SUVs growing in demand everywhere (it’s not just in the Philippines, but in the Americas and Europe as well), Subaru and Motor Image decided to up the ante and launch a new variant of the popular XV crossover with an STI-enhanced Performance Pack.

The launching was held on July 11 at the new 3S Motor Image Subaru Facility in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, and was attended by media from all over the Southeast Asian region. The XV STI Performance Pack doesn’t pack added power, but improvements to aerodynamics, stability and safety. The XV STI Performance Pack comes with front and rear under spoilers, which help improve airflow at higher speeds, and side skirts with integrated vortex generators, which help push air away from the rear wheel wells to reduce underbody turbulence and lift, increasing high-speed stability and reducing fuel consumption.

There’s also an STI duck tail roof spoiler which adds useful downforce at the rear end. Finally, an STI-badged lightweight aluminum strut tower bar with an integrated ball-joint-type damper helps front-end cornering feel and stability. The unique ball-joint damper also reduces NVH inside the cabin. LED driving lamps further increase the XV’s visibility during daytime driving. Small differences, but extensive wind-tunnel testing has shown the balanced improvements in performance, stability and fuel efficiency.

The interior gets some chrome treatment for the climate control dials, plus contrasting matte silver for the steering and door inserts.

Motor Image’s all-new 3S facility is the future corporate identity design of all Subaru Motor Image dealerships in the Asean, featuring integrated sales, service and spare parts facilities. But the design and layout of the 3S facility has been optimized for easier workflow for the sales team, service department, and aftersales and spare parts group, allowing for the easy entry/exit of cars, clients and personnel. The new design features lots of natural lighting and good crossventilation that utilizes less resources for operations, reducing utilities expense for lighting and cooling.

Marketing ‘STIr’?

Though critics might cry out that the XV STI Performance Pack is nothing but a marketing gimmick, the presence of STI executives from Japan and the ensuing interviews pointed to the future of STI in the Asean. Slowly but surely, STI will be rolling out more globalized products bearing the STI badge and, with it, the improved parts and performance to be expected of the STI brand on Subarus. STI sees the need to grow outside of the Japan domestic market, so expect more “TS” (tuned by STI) models available outside of Japan, and developed specifically for Asean roads and weather conditions.

Yoshio Hirakawa, president of Subaru Tecnica International (STI), Fuji Heavy Industry’s (FHI) motorsports division, and executive technical expert for FHI/Subaru, says that more

STI EXECUTIVES (from left) Kengo Hori, Subaru Tecnica International (STI) general manager for sales; Yoshio Hirakawa, STI president and Fuji Heavy Industries Subaru executive technical expert; and Makoto Shibuya,STI Experimental Division general manager

Subaru models will be released soon, such as the Forester CUV with STI performance upgrades. STI wants to grow its brand globally and recognizes the Asean as a growth market not just for its core motorsports business, but also for well-designed, consumer-friendly and environmentally conscious aftermarket performance parts and complete STI-badged vehicles.

STI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Subaru and FHI, and competes in the Group N production class of the World Rally Championship, the VLN Nurburgring 24-Hour Endurance Race and the Japan Super GT Championship, as well as various other smaller road and rally races in Japan and throughout the region. Aside from motorsports, STI helps develop, test and tune performance parts and accessories, as well as conceptualize complete vehicles from the existing Subaru model lineup.

The other major announcement was TCIL’s plans to increase production capacity in its Malaysian facility. Currently, the TCIL factory is producing at a maximum capacity of 5,000 units of the Subaru XV in RHD (right-hand drive) models annually. This output will triple in 2015 when the TCIL factory reconfigures to produce an additional 10,000 units of the larger RHD model Forester, according to Glenn Tan, group chief executive of Motor Image Enterprises and executive director of TCIL. The increase in production capacity means more jobs in the Asean, noticeably lower costs for the RHD markets of Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand for the XV and Forester crossover compact SUVs, and less waiting time.

On the flip side, for the Philippine market, this means more allocation from Subaru’s Ota, Gunma, facility in Japan, where the majority of Foresters in both LHD and RHD configurations are assembled. Currently, sales of Subaru vehicles in the region are restricted by production capacities of both Subaru and the TCIL assembly plant in Malaysia for the Asean, as the United States remains to be the largest market for Subaru vehicles.

‘STI you’ in September

In the Philippines, the Subaru XV STI Performance Pack is expected to arrive in September. No prices  have been announced yet, but Mike Luyun, general manager for Motor Image Pilipinas, sees no major price difference for the XV STI Performance Pack variant versus the other XV variants. It is unclear if the STI Performance Pack can be retrofitted onto older XV models, as both Motor Image Subaru and STI have not examined older XVs. Minor changes have been introduced along the way since the XVs release in 2012.

Motor Image Pilipinas’ sales forecast for 2014 for the Philippine market is 4,000 units, while regionally, the Motor Image Enterprises Group expects Subaru vehicle sales to top out at 18,000 units for 2014. The future looks exciting for Motor Image Subaru with the official entry of STI into the Asean. Here’s hoping we will get more of the pink STI goodness in our everyday Subarus!