The Subaru WRX is one of those old-school four-door performance sedans that just refuses to give up. Even in an age where hot hatches are the in-thing.

Subaru too isn’t giving up on an icon by slapping it on a crossover, unlike some other Japanese manufacturer. Just like the barrage of Mazda scoops yesterday, our Japanese media friends are also busy with another smaller Japanese carmaker.

According to Best Car Web, Subaru is eyeing to unleash the next-gen WRX in August 2021. This will be the third-gen WRX ever since Subaru split the Impreza name from the high-performance sedan.

According to them, the WRX will once again be split into 2 versions for the Japanese market starting with the S4 which is the CVT version. Subaru had released an updated version of the S4 a few months back which now features the EyeSight ADAS.

Meanwhile, the hotter STi will be mated to a 6-speed manual transmission for those who feel the superiority of rowing your own gears is unmatched to letting the car change on its own. The STi could appear in March 2022.

Based on Best Car Web’s renderings, the next-gen WRX could look similar to the Viziv Performance Concept which was last shown at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show.

On the chassis and platform, the next-gen WRX could be sharing the same Subaru Global Platform as the current Levorg and the next-gen BRZ/86.

As for the powertrain, the next-gen WRX could be powered by a turbocharged 2.4-litre FA24 boxer engine, replacing the current 2.0-litre FA20. The larger engine currently powers the Ascent SUV as well as the Legacy and Outback in America. However, those engines could only produce up to 263 PS.

With the WRX however, Best Car Web speculates that Subaru could crank up more power – up to 300 PS or even more. Subaru engineers are said to use the Mercedes-Benz AMG A-Class as the benchmark for the WRX.

So, what are your thoughts on the next hottest sports sedan coming out of the Star of Pleiades?