Subaru’s teasing of an upcoming sports sedan, something it’s calling the WRX S4, is making the rounds in US media. Likely, the “all new” car will be a Japan-market version of the 2015 Subaru WRX already on sale in the US.

In Japan the base Impreza is on the fourth generation body style, but the WRX and STI sold in its home market are still previous-generation models. The WRX S4 will combine Subaru’s trademark all-wheel-drive performance with its next-gen EyeSight, a catch-all safety system that includes adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings, and pre-collision braking and throttle management.

Though S4 sounds suspiciously like a model from Audi’s sport division, Subaru says that the four esses stand for “Sports performance,”, “Safety performance”, “Smart driving” and “Sophisticated feel.” Note that the top-spec STI moniker is nowhere to be found, perhaps a sly dig at where Subaru believes its competitor falls in the AWD sports sedan hierarchy. Or perhaps it’s a nod to another rally-bred compact, the Lancia Delta S4. Or perhaps it’s just another bunch of meaningless alphanumerics.

The Japanese market is no stranger to a mind-boggling number of WRX variants. Past special editions have included the WRX STI Takumi, 20th Anniversary WRX STI, WRX STI Spec C, the WRX STI A-Line, WRX STI R205, WRX STI tS, WRX STI A-Line tS, WRX STI S206 NBR Challenge, WRX STI A-Line type-S, WRX STI tS Type RA, and WRX STI tS Type RA NBR Challenge, among others.

The WRX S4 will be revealed 11:00 am August 25.

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