Toyota Rav4-based Mitsuoka Buddy Retro-styled Suv Is Sold Out

Toyota RAV4-based Mitsuoka Buddy retro-styled SUV is sold out

Vintage trucks and SUVs, as well as their follow-ups, are in hot demand right now, and crossovers rule the world's sales charts. So few will be surprised to learn that Mitsuoka's quirky Buddy is sold out until 2023. Unveiled in November 2020, it blends styling cues reminiscent of 40-year old Chevrolet models with the efficiency and reliability expected from a new Toyota.

It's not entirely popularity that led to the Buddy selling out. Mitsuoka has never dabbled in volume, and the Buddy is no exception. It will only build 50 units of the Buddy in 2021, according to Motor1, and it will manufacture 150 more in 2022. There's no word yet on how many it will make in 2023. These numbers would be a rounding error if we were talking about the standard RAV4 (about 448,000 units were sold in America alone in 2019), but the Buddy is much more than a Toyota crossover with extra bling.

Mitsuoka Buddy Is A Toyota Rav4 With Dna From A 1980s Chevrolet Truck

Mitsuoka Buddy is a Toyota RAV4 with DNA from a 1980s Chevrolet truck

Mitsuoka, one of Japan's most eclectic tuners, can't resist the market's shift towards crossovers and SUVs. It alchemized the Toyota RAV4 into retro family hauler that borrows styling cues from 1980s Chevrolet trucks.

Called Buddy, the Americanized RAV4 is the latest in a long line of intriguing creations that put a retro spin on a modern car. Chevrolet's trademarked Bowtie emblem doesn't appear anywhere on the crossover, but the shiny grille and the two-piece rectangular headlights are strongly reminiscent of the third-generation C/K pickup, especially the face-lifted model introduced for the 1981 model year. Mitsuoka also redesigned the hood, made the front end boxier, and added a thick strip of chrome-look trim that reminds us of the C/K's metal front bumper.