Modern K5 Blazer or Ramcharger? No, It's the Custom Toyota RAV4 Built in Japan

The Toyota RAV4 is one of the most interesting, unique designs of any CUV. However, it's not retro. In fact, it even matched up to some degree with the Lamborghini Urus nose when somebody made a conversion. But Mitsuoka took one look and said 'that looks like a Blazer'...

The world got introduced to Mitsuoka back in 2008, when Top Gear drove the Orochi sports car in Japan. "Its looks are based on a fish, a snake, and Pamela Anderson's mouth," he said at the time, adding that Mitsuoka is a "propper Japanese carmaker, the 10th biggest in the country."

The Buddy looks like everything and nothing at the same time, which is probably intentional. Lawsuits can be rather expensive when Detroit gets angry. But we can say that the custom RAV4 looks a bit like the K5 Blazer, the "Dentside" Ford Bronco, and especially the Dodge Ramcharger, which at one point did have vertically stacked lights. There's also the Plymouth Trail Duster, but not many people remember that thing.

The Japanese coachbuilder has changed the look of the rear end as well, adding a large chrome bumper and rectangular taillights. You can still tell it's a RAV4 from the numerous angles on the sides and the geometric wheel arches.

This being a Japanese market model, it's probably going to be based on their normal RAV4 that uses a 2-liter gasoline motor, but a hybrid will also be offered. Prices aren't available yet but should be revealed during the full launch on November 26. Also, we recently talked about the Mitsuoka Rock Star, which is a Miata made to look like a 1966 Corvette and that cost between $44,000 and $48,500.