Malta & Cyprus WRX imports, how different now as a EU member?
 

Do you think that now these are officially EU cars that there will be a substantial price hike?
Also will UK dealers honour the 3yr EU warranty ?

Very tempting now that you can wander into Trade Sales / Motorpoint etc and buy a brand new WRX for under £16,500 with the possibilty of 3yr EU warranty.
All the above is presuming that they weren't pre-registerd before May 1st though.

My understanding is that, with all EU imports, the UK dealer network (through IM) will honour the first year's warranty.

Thereafter, you would need to make a claim through the importer or concessionnaire that deals with the sale of the vehicle in the country of origin. So, if the car is sourced from, say, Cyprus, the cypriot importer will need to be contacted.

I've been loking myself, with Cat 1, registration etc, cheapest Malta import I have found is £17,200 OTR. I understand that most of the 'UK spec' imports are coming from Malta at the moment (some from Cyprus) due to the exchange rate, cars from Belgium/Holland are less attractive for same reason. Dunno if Malta are adopting the Euro, if they do could kill this price advantage.

Ive just purchased a WRX from Malta but IM are saying thaey wont honour the three year warranty if the car has been imported before 1st May not registered. The part of it being registered after 1st May doesnt count. I had several conversations with different peaople from IM who all said different things. There difinitive was in order for them to honour the warranty the car has to have been imported into the country after 1st May not before. They arnt very helpful at all.
Mark