Subaru has given WRX fanatics reason to hope with a new teaser offering a glimpse of an upcoming STi version and confirmation that the new AWD turbo cult car will be unveiled next month. While there’s no mention of the hi-po star making it down under, it will get a tough new manual transmission. 

The brand’s Japanese division made the revelation in a new website dedicated to the Rex, with a cryptic photo and 15-minute video, in Japanese, offering a few clues about what to expect. An image of the new STi shows a decent outline of the new car’s front end, which looks a lot like the current fifth-generation of the sedan.

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In the video, Subaru confirms that the latest STi – that stands for the brand’s motorsport arm, Subaru Tecnica International, for the uninitiated – will get the heavy-duty TY85 manual gearbox from the discontinued previous generation of the car.

The clip, which is titled “The path to the revival of a mass-produced MT model”, reveals that the TY85 was almost axed entirely as Subaru got rid of manual transmission plants, but the team behind the new STi found that a partner factory was still operational and able to produce the six-speed unit.

Subaru got a small skunkworks team up and running last year, and they’ve obviously been working flat-out to get to this stage so quickly. The new STi shapes as a full production model instead of a special edition, too, and it will draw on tech from the brand’s motorsport experience.

The most hi-po WRX won’t be alone with its manual, as Subaru announced in June that it would be bringing out three manual-equipped models by the middle of next year. However, Aussie STi fans shouldn’t start popping the champagne corks yet, as the teaser applies to Japan only.

Subaru might have given some clues to the looks of the upcoming model when it revealed the WRX STi Sport# Prototype at the Auto Salon show in Tokyo, but that is also Japan-only, and looked similar to the WRXtS Spec B that Aussies are familiar with.