Subaru Baja & BRAT Virtually Try to Beat Toyota's Compact Truck to the Maverick Line

Subaru does not have a massive lineup in America – the performance-oriented BRZ and WRX plus the 2024 Impreza and Legacy as passenger cars, as well as a nice variety of crossovers. The latter include the affordable $25k Crosstrek, the iconic 2024 Forester and Outback, as well as the family-sized Ascent. Oh, and let us not forget about the Solterra – an electric twin of the hard-to-pronounce-and-spell Toyota bZ4X compact EV crossover SUV.

However, one should notice a couple of things. First, Toyota is a shareholder of Subaru's parent, FHI (Fuji Heavy Industries). Still, in America, they only collaborate on the Toyota GR86 and Subaru BRZ, plus the Toyota bZ4X and Subaru Solterra projects on a wide scale. That's because the Prius Prime-based Crosstrek Plug-in Hybrid has yet to return with the new generation, and of course, other stuff like the Kei cars are of little consequence to Subaru in America.

Secondly, Subaru doesn't cover the lucrative market of pickup trucks even though they had interesting stuff to show in the past – like the long-lived 1978 to 1994 Subaru BRAT coupe utility and the quirky 2003 to 2006 Subaru Baja. Anyway, what if Toyota and Subaru expanded their American collaborations with the aim of returning to the newly revived compact unibody pickup truck market?

Ever since the Hyundai Santa Cruz paved the way for the stellar sales results of its rivaling Ford Maverick, Toyota has been rumored to join the compact unibody pickup truck party with its own model. First, the rumor mill painted an exciting vision of Toyota's revival of the beloved Stout nameplate, but more recently, the whispers have calmed down to imagining a Corolla Cross derivative.

So, if that were the case, it would be all related to costs – thus, wouldn't it be better for Toyota to share the burden with Subaru and present double jeopardy to the best-selling Ford Maverick and ritzier Hyundai Santa Cruz? Well, suppose the real world is too far away from such ideas. In that case, the imaginative realm of digital car content creators isn't shying from the interesting portrayal of a modern Subaru Baja.

As such, the good folks over at the Q Cars channel on YouTube aim to daze and amaze the audience with the potential styling of their vision for the revived Subie Baja. As always, the host discusses the unofficial possibilities of seeing a Subaru challenge the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz.

Meanwhile, the resident pixel master – aided by some AI design software wizardry – portrays the potential return of modern Subaru pickup trucks. It carries the 'Baja' moniker with pride – and the channel even gives us two slightly different visions for the rear styling. But it also pays CGI homage to the previous Subaru BRAT series, as a third variant showcases the model with just two doors and classic (Ute) coupe utility looks!

So, which is your favorite, and would you buy one looking so futuristic but twinned with a hypothetical Toyota Corolla Cross unibody compact pickup truck – especially if you could have it either with Subie's signature boxer mill or, alternatively, with the feisty hybrid components borrowed from the Corolla Cross Hybrid?