For all its success elsewhere, Prodrive is inextricably linked with Subaru - unforgettable WRC wins and some fantastic Impreza road cars virtually guarantee the fact. But nobody needs reminding that it's quite a few years ago now. Still, it remains a very special relationship, one Prodrive is apparently keen to rekindle; so here’s your first look at ‘P25’, a new project that will resurrect a rallying icon.
There’s very little to go on for now, with Prodrive merely showing a silhouette on its social media pages and promising more info next week. That said a two-door Impreza has one of the most iconic shapes around, so the basis of the project doesn’t take much deducing. Not least given we’re now 25 years - hence ‘P25’ - from 1997, the year that the Prodrive-built Imprezas claimed their third consecutive WRC Manufacturers’ title. So it might be a reimagining of the Impreza Terzo, but we’re expecting something a little more exotic than that.
‘An icon redefined’ is how Prodrive describes it for now, which we’ll interpret for now as a legendary motorsport outfit building the best 90s Subaru Impreza it possibly can. Which, let's face it, will probably be quite awesome. We’re picturing something like the Redux E30 M3 - obsessively refining an iconic performance car - or perhaps even the RML Short Wheelbase, where you get motorsport attention to detail on a road car project. Neither sounds a bad way off making a restomod Subaru.
This is all conjecture and giddy excitement now, of course. P25 could be a one-off commission, it could be electric, it could just be a nicely restored old Turbo. But we’re hoping and praying for something more akin to a Kimera EVO37, a rally legend born again with the best the 21st century can offer. We’ll know for certain what the P25 is next Wednesday.