Subaru holds a special place in the automotive world thanks to AWD and boxer power, two elements that brought the Japanese brand a lot of commercial success in the United States. At one point during the 1970s, Subaru also understood that it needs a pickup in this part of the world.
Developed at the request of the company’s U.S. president, the BRAT can only be described as a lovable oddity with various bits and pieces from the Leone. A single-cab trucklet with a unibody construction, the “Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter” is best known for the cool-looking jumpseats.
Welded into the bed right behind the rear window, the rear-facing jumpseats were nothing more than a law-bending trick. The BRAT was classified as a passenger car because Subaru preferred to pay a 2.5-percent import tariff, not the 25-percent “Chicken Tax” protectionist import tariff on light trucks.
The four-wheel-drive ute was offered until 1994, then Subaru revisited this concept in the 2000s with the Baja. The BRAT’s heir was larger due to Outback underpinnings, and on this occasion, production was handled locally at the Lafayette factory where the Outback is made to this very day.
A lukewarm reception and extremely poor sales were enough for the Japanese automaker to drop this nameplate at the end of the 2006 model year. Considering that a Baja used to cost more than a half-ton pickup like the best-selling F-150, the writing was on the wall from the very beginning.
Subaru hasn’t tried reviving the BRAT/Baja recipe in these last 15 years, but pixel artist Theottle did with the help of Photoshop. Based on the Levorg station wagon for the Japanese market and loosely inspired by the single-cab Fiat Strada for Brazil, the design study before your eyes is very interesting from a visual standpoint but not good enough for the real world.
There’s no mistaking that a small automaker with limited R&D resources has no chances of one-upping a giant such as the Ford Motor Company, which has recently confirmed more than 36,000 reservations for the double-cab Maverick. Subaru would also have to outperform the Hyundai Santa Cruz, which boasts higher payload and tow ratings than Ford’s truck.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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