The Japan-unreleased Impreza P1 is up for auction
On 24 February 2024, the Subaru Impreza P1 was offered at an auction held by Iconic Auctioneers at Silverstone Circuit in the UK. It is well known that Subaru had teamed up with Prodrive to compete in rallies, and the car up for sale was a limited edition of 1,000 to celebrate Subaru’s WRC success.
The car was so popular that it was imported in parallel to various European countries
The Impreza P1 is a bit of an unfamiliar name, and rightly so. It is a European-only high-performance model tailored by Prodrive in the UK for the British market.
The world of the auction business forms one large market, mainly in Europe and the US. There are many auction houses in this world, from large, well-established companies to relatively small firms, and this time the topic is from the auction site held by Iconic Auctioneers at the Silverstone Circuit in the UK on 24 February 2024.
Iconic Auctioneers is an auction house specializing in motoring items such as classic and competition cars, motorbikes, and automobilia, and the 2000 Subaru Impreza P1, lot number 906, exhibited on that day was the protagonist of this article. It is the protagonist of this article.
The Subaru Impreza won many glories in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in the late 1990s with British rally specialists Prodrive. Naturally, the Impreza was also very popular in Europe, with high-performance grades such as the STi and WRX being imported in parallel to the UK and other European countries.
The mileage was only 37,205 km
This is where Prodrive’s attention was drawn. Based on the body shell of the two-door Impreza, the P1 is equipped with unique aerodynamic parts by British designer Peter Stevens, famous for his work on the McLaren F1. The P1 also features a Prodrive engine producing 280 hp, a high-geared five-speed manual transmission designed for use on UK suburban roads, and, of course, a special suspension that is fully infused with rally know-how.
These tuning measures gave the car even higher high-speed stability and extreme dynamic performance, with 0-60 mph (approx. 0-97 km/h) acceleration in 4.6 seconds, and it also complied with European emissions and noise regulations of the time. With type certification throughout Europe, the Prodrive-proprietary Subaru Impreza P1 was made available through Subaru’s European dealers.
Although initially said to be limited to 500 units, it is said that due to its popularity, 1,000 P1s were eventually produced. It is an even more special limited edition model of the first-generation Impreza, which remains popular to this day.
The car on display at this auction was only three owners from new and in excellent condition with 23,118 miles (37,205km) on the odometer. The car was sold for £66,375 (approx. 85,000 USD), which included various documents such as maintenance records and the sales dealer’s sticker. For an ardent Subaruist, it was not too expensive.
translated by DeepL