Subaru of America (USA) paid for the company's rally team and Oliver Solberg was a convenient newcomer. He could come learn in a safe environment and SOA got some star power and a good driver to draw some extra fans. They haven't confirmed a team this year and their regular driver (David Higgins) has his own schedule that doesn't include US events. SOA may pay for a season or maybe not. Subaru Canada still offers lots of contingencies but stopped fielding their own rally team a few years ago.

If Subaru can get the Solberg family to set up a shop ala Makinen more power to them, but nothing from North America should be an indicator of this. Plus after following Subaru news in Japanese enthusiast magazines for twenty years you get kind of skeptical of anything they publish.