Is The 2025 Subaru BRAT Real?
It's sometimes hard to keep up with the mystifying barrage of new cars, trucks, and SUVs that come to market each year. More recently, there have also been a lot more false rumors floating around about strange new models and purported re-releases of old favorites. These have circulated about a new Toyota Corolla pickup truck, a re-imagination of the Chevy Nova, and a handful of other examples, all ultimately untrue.
In that same vein, you may have seen YouTube videos with images claiming to show a 2025 Subaru Brat. Unfortunately, like the Corolla pickup and the new Nova, the resurrected Brat isn't actually on the automaker's drawing board, nor is it coming to showrooms anytime soon. These YouTube videos use clearly AI-generated images, and the car itself is just a fantasy right now. One poorly sourced article from July even touted an impending release for "Summer 2024," which has come and gone with no new Brat.
While car companies are always working on secret projects, there's been no news from Subaru suggesting any plans for a new Brat. If such an announcement comes our way, we'll be sure to let you know.
The real Subaru Brat was born in 1978
Brat stands for Bi-drive Recreational All-terrain Transporter. With a name that evokes vehicles from Star Wars, it's appropriate that it made its debut in 1978, a year after A New Hope took the movie world by storm. It came to the United States as customers here were moving to small trucks from the likes of Volkswagen and Toyota, using the platform from the Leone station wagon. At first, it was powered by a 1.6-liter four-banger that produced 67 horsepower and 81 pound-feet of torque, but a 1.8-liter engine added 6 horses and 13 pound-feet starting in 1981.
For 1983 and 1984, buyers could add a turbocharger, bumping the numbers up to a more respectable 95 horsepower and 123 pound-feet of torque. The Brat only lasted through 1987 in the U.S., although it was available in Europe, Central and South America, and Oceana through 1994. It wore different badges in those markets, including Brumby, Targa, 284, and Shifter.
The Brat isn't the only ute from yesteryear that's been the subject of recent resurrection rumors. The Chevy El Camino was also discontinued in 1987, and purported images of a 2025 El Camino that surfaced earlier this year are as genuine as a six-dollar bill. Learning how to tell if an AI image is real or not can help you dispel these rumors quickly.
[Featured image by Sicnag via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC-BY SA 2.0]