Ok these are just my own personal opinions. ok here goes.
1. Mitsubishi has given Rhys Millen a factory ride in a evo VII for the rest of the scca prorally this year. I believe he races in group N against the wrx driven by Karl Scheible. So mitsubishi will have an advantage with there car. there is one good reason.

2. This months sportcompact car tested a evoVII and said that mitsu excs said that the evo will be here by oct 02.

3. Subaru is spending alot of money advertising how great the wrx is. and if mitsubishi brings the lancer they will have the better car. another good reason.

4. For the people that say bringing the sti will kill wrx sales. That is untrue. It won't, becuase the car will cost at least 5 grand more than a wrx and it will cost more for insuarance also. It will be like a integra and a integra typeR. sorry for the honder reference.

just my two cents.

in an interview with a Subaru of America Exec., he said that it will take at least 2 years for the STi to come over.

I'll believe that for now, myself.

If Subaru can't even sell the first year of the WRX, why would they bring in a MORE specialized and much MORE expensive STi over? If the US won't eat up a bare 15K WRXs in it's debut year, it's not going to go through the expense and trouble of bringing the STi over.

We'll get the STi because it's an image vehicle, and automakers don't mind losing a bit of money on such a car. If they bring over some number under 2,000, every one will be spoken for. Guaranteed. Collectors will grab some, Scoobynuts will grab the rest.

But from what I hear, emissions testing is proving to be a bear. They'll get it worked out, however. I don't think the STi will arrive in 2002, because Subaru wants people to get used to the WRX, both psychologically, and speed-wise.

Kevin

if the WRXs are not selling well enough. we won't see any STi.

why? Subaru of America needs marketing and advertising expenses for STi, which will be driven ONLY from selling WRXs. It's all about business!

Originally posted by jesse370


2. This months sportcompact car tested a evoVII and said that mitsu excs said that the evo will be here by oct 02.



I hate when people say this... if you actually read the article, in it's entirety, then you will see that this is SCC's own speculation and no official release announcement has been made.:mad:

Sorry for the rant.

Originally posted by jesse370

3. Subaru is spending alot of money advertising how great the wrx is. and if mitsubishi brings the lancer they will have the better car. another good reason.



And I hate when people say this too... If Mitsu does bring over the Evo in it's JDM state (yea right), than yes, it will be 'better' than the WRX...but it will also cost more. On top of that, the Evo is competition for the STi trim, not the WRX.:mad:

Comparing the WRX with the Evo is like comparing the OZ Rally edition Lancer with the WRX (well, maybe not that drastic, but you get my drift).

Sorry again.

Originally posted by jesse370
...Mitsubishi has given Rhys Millen a factory ride in a evo VII for the rest of the scca prorally this year...
Any update, spec, or availability of that Rhys Millen Special Edition Lancer.

I was just specualting. I will wait until the end of this coming september for any word on an sti, after that I will order a sweet wrx and be very happy with the car.

Here is a question from what I heard SOA was importing around 10 wrx's? And in here someone said 15? Did SOA commit to importing even more, I got the 10k number from a dealer. The same dealer 5 minutes from SOA headquarters and the same dealer that said oct 02 for the STi.

About the misinformation in the article. my bad, i did read the whole article and just saw what I wanted to see in the one part to justify another reason why it would be here in oct 02. maybe it will be here maybe not, but the only people that know are SOA.

Yes Subaru raised production to 15000 WRXs some time ago.


Like someone else said, we don't know what the EVO is going to be like here in the US. Because of emmissions and safety, it may have specs close to the current US WRX. Therefore SOA would not need to bring the STi to compete. So the status EVO doesn't really tell us anything right now.

I don't think we'll have to worry about the WRX not selling well enough. SOA's original sales estimates were for 10K 2002 WRX's, in bumping it to 15K they've already shown that the car is selling better than their original forcasts.

yup thats what I'm talking about. Dealers around jersey can't keep them on there lots for over a week. I had to setup a testdrive almost two weeks ago, for this friday.

The car was INITIALLY selling better than forecast, which is why they upped the allotment. However, the 16 WRXs sitting on the local dealer's lot says something different. Yeah, I know, bad economy, blah blah, but 16? For such a rare car? In SoCal? And that dealer's first offer being $500 over invoice? Nawww, the WRX isn't selling as well as SOA wants.

As for an image vehicle in the STi...if people don't jump on the WRX bandwagon, there won't be any image to foster. You don't try to make an image out of an unsuccessful car.

I like the WRX, and if the dealer had been willing to work with me back when my RS was stock, I might have one. But facts are facts, and market share is market share, and too many WRXs on lots = no STi on lots.

I hate to say this...because people will jump down my throat for saying it...

but, Subaru should have brought the WRX here while it was still in it's last body style.

Even if for one year, they should have. It's a garauntee that EVERY last one of them would have been sold, had it been advertised like the WRX has been. they could have brought over 20k of them, and they would have sold.

Because face it, the last generation WRX was just plain mean looking. The new one isn't. I'm not saying the new one is ugly, it's just not as aggressive as the last model.

But had they brought it over like so, it would have immediately gotten a strong following. Then, after a year or so of that car, then they could smash everyone in the face with their new design.

People would already know the WRX name, and they would know it's a good car...so they would buy the new body possibly just as much as the last (though it definitely wouldn't outsell the last model...just look at the numbers around the world).

if they did that, I think their sales figures would be much better, and then the chances of the STi coming over would be much better.

I'm with JGard18 on this one.

yeah that is true. I took a test drive in one today and got that bugger sideways. That car is BADASS. The wrx is fast enough for me anything more and I'll just loose my license. Gonna order a wrx this spring.

I think that soa and it's dealers are gettting what they deserve with the soft sales. (please don't blast me too bad). But buying my WRX was one of the worst new car experiences I've ever had, everyone of them had such horrible attitudes about how popular the car was. Also the only reason why car sales are up right now is because of manufactures offering the 0% financing. Retail car sales are up right now and are helping the economy. You think SOA will actually even try giving any insentives for the wrx. No way. Will this hurt them right now, oh yeah, and might have in impact on when they bring over the STI.