While Hyundai prepared to introduce its first dedicated pickup truck for North America, most likely, the other automakers watched from the sideline, laughing. Only Ford took the idea of reviving the US compact pickup truck sector seriously, and the result is obvious – they won big with the little Maverick.
Given the wild success of the pocket-sized Blue Oval truck, most likely, the other carmakers ate their demeaning words and started preparations of their own – Stellantis is coming to North America with the Rampage, apparently, and Toyota is rumored to bring its well-known experience to the segment, too.
Naturally, the rumor mill loves a good Toyota report – and as it turns out, they found several. Some of them discussed the cheaper possibility of developing a new pickup body style for the Corolla Cross, which is the base crossover in the US lineup now. If they take this route, they will have easy access to a unibody platform, and with minimal modifications, the pocket-sized truck could sport both gasoline and hybrid powertrains.
However, other whispers talk of a much deeper and more meaningful involvement strategy – Toyota could bring back the Stout nameplate, a light truck produced by the Japanese carmaker from 1954 through 1989 (up to 2000 under license) in just three generations. Of course, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators would very much prefer to use their CGI talents on the latter option. Now, meet PoloTo, which is a distinctively named automotive news video channel on YouTube. They also share visions of new models created with (some) assistance from AI.
On this occasion, their latest video feature focuses on the distinctive possibility of a revived 2025 Toyota Stout arriving with hybrid powertrains as the base option and also as a full EV, thus beating the ICE-only Hyundai Santa Cruz and electrified Ford Maverick to the zero emissions threshold (probably with help from the bZ4X setup - 201 hp with FWD and 215 hp with AWD). Of course, the channel's resident pixel master is also on duty to present their hypothetical version of the design. Well, it's a mixed bag if you ask us.
From the front, this rugged Stout mixes the formidable appearance of the original with the new requisites of the compact pickup truck sector in America – it has four doors and lots of black plastic body cladding, making it ready for anything. However, from the rear, it's pretty clear that the renderings are based on a body-on-frame architecture – it looks way too rugged for a unibody platform. Anyway, remember that all of this is merely wishful thinking, and we should take everything with a healthy dose of salt because nothing is official on the subject from Toyota just yet.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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