| Established in 1988 as a subsidiary of parent company Fuji Heavy Industries (FHI), Subaru Tecnica International (STI) was formed, in part, to manage Subaru motorsports activities, including the company's participation in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). Since their first full season of WRC competition in 1990, STI has helped Subaru and the Subaru World Rally Team (SWRT) to capture three consecutive WRC Manufacturers' Championships (1995-1997) and three WRC Drivers' Championships.
The other half of STI's mission was to use their motorsports experience to help develop, refine and manufacture both STi versions of Subaru vehicles and STi parts and accessories for the full-line of Subaru vehicles. The 1991 Subaru Legacy STi was the first vehicle to be re-worked by STI's team of engineers, followed by the first model of what would become a legendary line of rally-inspired performance cars, the Impreza STi, in 1994. Over the years, STI's road vehicles -- including the incredible 1998 Impreza 22B STi and other limited edition, world-beating cars - became known throughout Japan and Europe as performance icons.
North Americans didn't get their first taste of what STI was truly about until the release of the 2004 Impreza WRX STi - the first STi-badged Subaru to be available in Canada and the United States. With 300-hp under the hood, a performance-oriented version of the Subaru symmetrical full-time All-Wheel-Drive system and aerodynamics developed in concert with SWRT, the WRX STi is the embodiment of the spirit of the World Rally Championship. Seeing as how STi models have been turning heads and winning awards in Europe and Japan for over a decade, it's no surprise that the WRX STi was named Road & Track Readers' Choice Award: The Best Car 2004, in April, 2004. Simply put, Subaru Tecnica International is in the business of performance.
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