How The VB WRX Aftermarket Turned Around

State of the VB WRX Aftermarket in 2025

The sun was just lifting over the rolling hills of Petaluma, California, when the Solar Orange Pearl VB WRX pulled into the parking lot, its boxer rumble gently attracting stares from the nearby cattle. Two years ago, gatherings of VB WRXs like this—cars lined up with coilovers, carbon lips, and aftermarket wheels poking out from paint-matched fender flares—were rare. The VB, Subaru’s bold but polarizing new WRX, had been slow to win over the faithful. But today, the lot is full. The aftermarket has arrived, and with it, the car’s second life.
 

Rallysport Direct’s VB WRX, in Petaluma, CA

 

When Subaru unveiled the fifth-generation WRX in late 2021, fans expecting an STI companion model or radical rally-inspired styling were taken aback. Instead, they got black cladding, a somewhat restrained design, and—perhaps most controversially—no STI. Social media lit up with memes comparing the car to an Outback Sport or a lifted crossover. The VB felt—at first—like your friend who shows up to a wedding in hiking boots.The prior generation VA had set a high bar, as arguably the best selling WRX since the second generation, and many were simply disappointed with the VB. It wasn’t hard to sympathize with the thought that Subaru was abandoning the performance segment in favor of SUVs and EVs.

The outlook for the VB was cloudy at first

The Subaru community’s acceptance of new platforms has experienced cold starts of its own. Subaru enthusiasts will remember that prior WRX generations experienced mixed or downright negative reactions at launch. The GD Bugeye was lambasted at launch and referred to as a “Dodge Neon with a hood scoop.” Today, of course, the Bugeye is celebrated as a classic and recently made a star appearance in the TV Series, Twisted Metal.

Away from the unflattering chatter at the VB’s launch, the new platform had something important going for it: the FA24 turbocharged flat-four. With 271 horsepower out of the box, the engine wasn’t dramatically stronger than the outgoing FA20, but it delivered torque earlier and more consistently across the rev range. Tuners quickly realized it was also a sturdier foundation for power gains. While the VA STI’s EJ25 was already at the edge of its development potential, the FA24 offered breathing room—an engine that could do more. And since many in the Subaru community specifically want to do more with their WRX, that was reason enough to get some folks interested in it.

When we at Rallysport Direct talk to the aftermarket parts manufacturers, we sense their excitement. Adrian Spears is the Dealer Program Manager at Cobb Tuning, where engines and engine tuning is their heritage. There’s no mistaking Adrian’s enthusiasm for the FA24, characterizing the platform as a “350hp, day-in day-out vehicle after modifications.” He notes the team at Cobb “keep cutting into it to see if anything glitters,” e.g. parts shedding metal flakes due to grinding, “and we don’t see it.” He crows, while emphasizing the potential output, that this is an “every day reliable car, and it’s insanely fun. It’s what previously required a full build to support it. Here it’s just intake, intercooler, and tune – you’re good to go.” We couldn’t agree more for those that want some fun for a daily driver; unfortunately, it does blunt our ability to crack dark jokes about Subaru engine reliability.

Furthermore, the VB WRX continues the prior generations’ tradition of satisfying true enthusiast demand. Among its sports car peers, the VB still has the highest penetration of manual transmissions. Manual uptake for the WRX this generation is 83%, significantly higher than the GR Corolla, MX-5, GR86 / BRZ, Golf GTI, and just about any other mass-market car. Nation-wide, across all makes and models, the penetration of manuals is just 2%.

 

The AWD is also an enduring feature of the WRX success formula. People who live in snowy regions make up roughly 40-50% of the US population. For these folks, having AWD makes the vehicle that much more versatile as a daily driver. Add in the four doors and it’s the perfect car for many car buyers. In the first three years after launch the VB has held its own, averaging 20,643 vehicles per year. The VA admittedly still has it beat, averaging 32,790 vehicles sold per year in its first three years.

 

Transitions between generations of vehicles and the aftermarket demand that follow are always gradual, as the outgoing design loses any fresh blood but has a decent-sized vehicle population, while the incoming design has less vehicles on the road yet is developing new products to meet aftermarket demand. Today in 2025, VB aftermarket parts demand is outpacing that of the VA and prior generations. Spears from Cobb affirms that “the VB is the dominant platform now… the energy is moving towards the VB.” We heard similarly from Whiteline, a long-established player known for their suspension components. The market is still growing and Spears thinks that the market may begin to plateau – but not decline – in late 2026 or beyond.

Rallysport Direct’s David Lemos and a coworker at our Gilroy warehouse

In some of the external data we track, we see unmistakable signs of momentum for the VB. On Reddit, an entirely separate subreddit r/wrx_vb exists, with 24k members as compared to the 163k members in r/wrx; the only other strongly-represented subgroup is r/STI which counts 39k members. On Google Trends, searches for “VB WRX” outpace “VA WRX” and are still increasing. Pundits have weighed in too. Doug DeMuro mentioned in this podcast that he felt the VB was likely the second-best of all of the WRXs, and Savage Geese retracted his prior ho-hum evaluation of the WRX, claiming the platform had grown on him. 

 

With our aftermarket parts sales data, too, we can see the VB aftermarket demand increasing. Typically – and this is very much so a broad generalization – early on in a car’s mod path owners may perform some of the following work: install cat-back exhaust, fit new wheels, install lowering springs or coilovers, add a Cobb Accessport, upgrade the topmount intercooler, add other basic aesthetic mods, and so forth. Owners at this stage are hesitant to perform warranty-voiding work, e.g. downpipes, cat ECU reflashes, engine internals. Now past the three year warranty milestone on early-generation vehicles, we are starting to see more parts sales common in power builds: think fuel system upgrades, flex-fuel setups, and engine internals such as rods and pistons. And as the aftermarket has designed some fixes that balance out the stock vehicle’s design, such as the black fender flares being swapped out for paint-matched ones, sales velocity of aesthetic and aero improvement have accelerated too.

Yet the one thing that we cannot come to grips with is the lack of the STI. Subaru’s official reason, of course, is the common scapegoat of fuel economy and emissions regulations. And they have since made some half-baked moves to the market with the TR, then teased us with TS (“Tuned by STI”). There is no replacement for the famous cherry blossom STI logo to grace a WRX, and there is absolutely no reason why Subaru couldn’t meet the demand that exists for this brand. Frankly it feels like this is a case of misexecution from the marketing team, since demand for an STI no matter the specifications would sell well.

Hoping that the road ahead includes an STI

The controversy around the VB’s looks when stock hasn’t disappeared—but the aftermarket helped solve the issue. Furthermore, what counts is how the car retains the WRX formula and improves on it: a great all-rounder, with AWD, that’s fun to drive, and is transformed when enthusiasts put their stamp on it. We look forward to continued growth of the VB aftermarket and the day when the STI returns.

Back in the parking lot, the morning sun has burned off the mountain haze, and the WRXs are still filing in. A younger owner pops the hood of his freshly tuned car, showing off a front-mount intercooler and a tangle of bright-blue piping. The VB WRX, once the oddball of the larger WRX family, now sits at the center of a scene that feels familiar: owners swapping advice, trading parts, and planning the next big mod.