The Subaru WRX has always been a favourite of performance enthusiasts. Its combination of giant-killing performance, numerous World Rally titles and a relatively cheap price tag quickly earned it cult status around the world, and it also made it a halo model for the rest of Subaru’s lineup. Today we have two variants of the WRX, the standard model and the high-performance WRX STI, but soon there could be a third model positioned somewhere in between them.

The new STI version is priced higher than the model it replaces, which means the price gap between the flagship model and the regular WRX (whose price didn't change with the model update) is now greater than ever. This has officials thinking about launching a third mid-spec version. “There is the potential to do that [fill the price gap] and while we have looked at it there’s not going to be one this year,” Subaru Australia exec Nick Senior told Drive. “There is the potential to do one in 2009 and there’s also factory limited editions in the future as well.”

There have been numerous special edition versions of the WRX over the years, the most popular being the ‘Club Spec’ models and the legendary ‘22B’ model. These cars featured several performance mods and were packed with extra features but were only available in limited numbers. Senior hinted at the possibility of a stripped-out track version but wasn’t willing to confirm its existence.