Subaru just released the all-new 2025 Forester as the second-largest of its four ICE crossovers. However, there’s still room in the Japanese automaker’s range for a bed, which is where the potential 2025 Subaru Baja pickup truck would come into play.
Unibody trucks are once again popular in the US, not least thanks to the Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz. And given that Subaru’s unibody truck history goes back to 1977 with the OG that was the Brat, unofficial sources claim the carmaker is working to revive the Baja nameplate of the mid-2000s for a small truck that would be released next year as a 2025 model.
We’ve brought along a rendering that portrays the possible 2025 Subaru Baja with the carmaker’s current styling language and an Outback-inspired front end in particular. Given that the original Subaru Baja used most of the hardware featured by the era’s Outback, this only makes sense.
At the rear, the mostly vertical taillights are a departure from Subaru’s current horizontal light cluster design, but these fit the utilitarian nature of the vehicle. After all, with the right prompts, AI can prove an accurate tool. This should be the case here, as Redditor Upstairs_Ad_2061 used AI to generate the images, which are presented in the typical ad fashion to dive deeper into the dream.
2025 Subaru Baja compact truck platform and engine possibilities
It wouldn’t be difficult for Subaru to craft a base for the 2025 Baja pickup, since all of its current ICE models ride on the Subaru Global Platform.
Of course, the automaker is constantly improving the architecture—for one, the 2025 Forester joins the unibody side panels to the floor before adding the outer skin instead of having the side panels and outer skin packed together like a more traditional unibody recipe. This gives assembly lines more access to strategic points (think: welding and adhesive), which in turn delivers a 10% boost in structural rigidity over the previous generation. This method could also be used for the Baja revival.
In terms of the engine range, Subaru could have the 2025 Baja leaping ahead of the Maverick and the Cruze thanks to its 2.4-liter turbocharged four-cylinder boxer, which can easily be tuned to 300 hp. And, as in other parts of its range, Subaru could join forces with Toyota and offer the new Baja with the 302 hp PHEV powertrain from the RAV4 Prime.
Of course, the easiest way for Subaru to bring a 2025 Baja or 2025 Stout would involve a Toyota compact truck slotted below the Tacoma. However, as Automotive News wrote in September, while dealers have been asking Toyota to build a Maverick rival, the company has yet to offer a positive reply. Still, with pickup trucks growing considerably over the years, the risk of such a model upsetting sales of the larger Tacoma and Tundra is negligible, whereas splitting the development costs with Subaru would increase profitability.
