It used a distinctive blue with yellow colour scheme that is a throwback to the sponsorship deal with State Express 555, a BAT cigarette brand popular in Asia.

[2] 555 logos were found on Subaru cars from 1993 to 2003,[2] although less prevalent since 1999 due to BAT's participation in Formula One with British American Racing.

Subaru's WRC efforts date back to 1980, however, in 1989 British firm Prodrive took over its operations, and its base moved from Japan to Banbury, England.

[4] It has credited the increased sales of its vehicles, especially the Subaru Impreza, with its success in the World Rally Championship, in addition to popularizing its all-wheel-drive system.

[12] Subaru Tecnica International (STi) president Ryuichiro Kuze forged a partnership with the British firm Prodrive to prepare and enter the recently introduced Legacy RS in the World Rally Championship.

[3] Subaru's initial forays into the World Rally Championship were with the Fuji Heavy Industries entries, these were pretty much confined to endurance events like the Safari (or non World event, the Australian Southern Cross rally) and were with the small front wheel drive FF-1 (1000cc) and then the Subaru GSR coupe (homologation special) as first a 1300cc and then a 1400cc car.

Drivers in the early years included Ari Vatanen, Per Eklund, Shekhar Mehta, Mike Kirkland, Possum Bourne, and Harald Demuth.

[15] For the 1992 season, Subaru only entered seven of the fourteen WRC events, preferring to demonstrate the car's ability on gravel rallies.

For the 1993 World Rally Championship season, the Subaru team debuted its now distinctive blue and yellow color scheme, along with a new title sponsor, State Express 555.

[24] At the Rallye de France, Sainz, McRae, and third driver Piero Liatti finished in the fourth, fifth, and sixth places respectively.

[26] Other drivers for the team included Possum Bourne, who finished in seventh place, and Richard Burns who retired with a mechanical failure.

[28] Sainz's first-place finish in Catalunya left he and McRae tied for points going into the last event of the season, the RAC Rally of Great Britain.

[29] McRae won out, taking first place at his home event, clinching his first and only Driver's Championship, a first for the Subaru team.

[31] He was joined by team drivers Kenneth Eriksson, in the #2 car, and Piero Liatti, with their co-drivers, Staffan Parmander and Mario Ferfoglia, respectively.

[32] 1994 World Drivers' Champion Didier Auriol also drove for the Subaru team in Sweden, taking his #3 car to tenth place.

[41] Secondary driver/co-driver teams included Piero Liatti/Fabrizia Pons (first in Monte Carlo), Olivier Burri/Christophe Hofmann and Kenneth Eriksson/Staffan Parmander (first in Sweden and New Zealand).

However, bad weather and mechanical failures hurt the team, and Subaru and McRae finished third in their respective championships.

Burns scored victories in Greece, Australia, and Wales, for second place and Kankkunen took fourth in the Drivers' Championship, with wins in Argentina and Finland.

[47] Burns and Solberg composed Subaru's nominated line-up for the 2001 season with Markko Märtin/Michael Park and Toshi Arai/Tony Sircombe competing in selected events.

[63][64] Subaru's season got off to a poor start, with Solberg unable to score in the first two rallies due to mechanical failures.

[70] Subaru's 2006 season was characterized as disappointing, and was the subject of a Discovery Channel series called Engineering the World Rally.

[74] Atkinson managed to grab fourth place at the season opening event in Monte Carlo, after passing the works Ford of Mikko Hirvonen.

[59] At the 2007 Rally Portugal, Solberg came in second, following the Ford cars' disqualification due to the glass in their rear windows being too thin.

[78] However, in the rally, Solberg had to retire on day two, after monstrous handling and steering problems which the team engineers were unable to deal with.

"[81] At the final event of the season, Wales Rally GB, Solberg won the battle for fourth with Dani Sordo, propelling Subaru to third place in the manufacturer's standings.

[83] Richard Taylor called the season a "poor" one, with Subaru only achieving two podium finishes, and no overall wins for the second year in a row.

[93][94] Going into the final day of the 2008 Rally Argentina, Solberg and Atkinson were comfortably in second and third position, poised to put two cars on the podium, a feat Subaru has not accomplished in several years.

[99][97][100] At the 2008 Jordan Rally, on SS6, Solberg's retired after his Impreza suffered from a damper failure, which then spilled oil, lighting a fire under the hood of the car.

Ikuo Mori denied that alterations to the WRC technical regulations in 2010 or a rumoured deterioration in the working relationship with Prodrive had any impact on the decision.

Already equipped with a symmetrical all wheel drive system, it made a good starting point for a rally car.