- Subaru will stop taking WRX orders in Japan on May 18.
- A statement on Subaru’s consumer site said WRX production had ended.
- A Subaru spokesperson told Motor1 that this is a ‘Japan-only deal’.
The Subaru WRX is dead in Japan. According to a statement posted on the automaker’s consumer site in its domestic market, production of the WRX S4 has ended, including the WRX S4 STI. The automaker will stop accepting orders on May 18.
Motor1 contacted Subaru to see how this might affect US models, and a spokesperson told us, “That’s a Japan-only deal. Nothing changes for the US.” The automaker builds high-performance sedans at its Gunma Yajima plant in Japan and imports them to the United States.
Photo by: Subaru
WRX sales fell more than 40 percent last year as the automaker curtailed WRX production to prioritize more profitable models. It sold just under 11,000 WRXs in the United States in 2025, but the automaker is bringing back the base trim of the WRX for 2026, making it $5,000 more than before, which might help.
The second-generation WRX launches in the United States in 2022. It comes with a new engine and a new platform—the same as the Legacy and Crosstrek, which are the two models the automaker already makes in the United States.
Motorcycle Pickup1: Subaru ending WRX production in Japan doesn’t bode well for sales in the United States, but that doesn’t mean the automaker can’t shift production elsewhere. Despite low sales and a lack of a viable STI variant, Subaru says it remains committed to performance cars.
