Quick summary
- Subaru built the Baja for four model years only, from 2003 to 2006, and has sold no pickup since.
- One 2.5-liter flat-four powered every Baja, with a turbocharged version arriving for the 2004 model year.
- A Subaru executive called a new ute “a conversation” in February 2026, which is not the same as approval.
Short answer: there is no 2024 Subaru Baja, and no 2025 or 2026 one either. The EPA has Baja ratings for 2003 through 2006 and nothing after. Subaru has publicly admitted it would like a small pickup again, but as of late 2026 no such vehicle has been approved, named, priced, or given a launch date. Pages offering all four of those details are inventing them.
Is there a 2024 Subaru Baja?
No. Every vehicle sold new in the US has to carry an EPA fuel-economy rating, so the agency’s model list is the cleanest way to settle this. Subaru’s entry shows Baja AWD for 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006, and the name is simply absent from 2007 onward.
The 2024 list bears that out from the other direction. Subaru’s rated vehicles that year were the Ascent, BRZ, Crosstrek, Forester, Impreza, Legacy, Outback, Solterra and WRX. Not one of them is a pickup.
What the original Baja actually was
A four-door Outback with the back half of its roof removed and a short bed welded in behind the cabin — roughly the same idea as a Chevrolet Avalanche, at two thirds the size. Every Baja ran a 2.5-liter flat-four with all-wheel drive, and from 2004 buyers could choose a turbocharged version that asked for premium fuel. Both engines came with a five-speed manual or a four-speed automatic.
| Version | Engine | Gearbox | EPA combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baja (2003) | 2.5-liter flat-four, regular fuel | 5-speed manual or 4-speed auto | 20 mpg |
| Baja (2006) | 2.5-liter flat-four, regular fuel | 5-speed manual | 22 mpg |
| Baja (2006) | 2.5-liter flat-four, regular fuel | 4-speed automatic | 21 mpg |
| Baja Turbo (2006) | 2.5-liter turbo flat-four, premium | 5-speed manual | 19 mpg |
| Baja Turbo (2006) | 2.5-liter turbo flat-four, premium | 4-speed automatic | 18 mpg |
The turbo cost about three to four mpg and required a more expensive grade of fuel on top of that. As with most forced-induction engines of the period, the premium requirement is there to resist knock rather than to add power, a difference our octane guide explains in full.
Has Subaru said anything about a new pickup?
Yes, but far less than the rumour pages suggest. In February 2026 Scott Lawrence, general manager of Subaru Australia, told Carsales that a ute is “a conversation” and that “it’s never a no” — the words of a company weighing an idea, not announcing a product. He described any such vehicle as monocoque, meaning unibody rather than a ladder frame, which is what the old Baja was and what the Ford Maverick is today.
Everything past that point is outside reporting rather than Subaru statements: that the Baja name might return, that Toyota as Subaru’s largest shareholder would be the likely partner, and that import tariffs complicate building one anywhere but alongside the Forester. Useful context, none of it a commitment. If a page gives you a 2024 or 2026 Baja with a price, a trim walk and an on-sale date, compare it with what Subaru itself has actually said.
What Subaru sells now instead
For 2026 the EPA lists Subaru with the Ascent, BRZ, Crosstrek, Forester, Impreza, Outback, Solterra, WRX and two new names, the Trailseeker and the Uncharted. All of them are cars or crossovers; the closest thing to the Baja’s mix of ground clearance and load space is an Outback or Crosstrek Wilderness, which keeps the all-wheel drive and the roof rails but gives you a hatch instead of a bed.
If the bed is the part you want, the direct replacement is a compact unibody pickup from someone else, which in practice means the Ford Maverick. And if you are checking on another nameplate that quietly left the market, we ran the same records for the Dodge Stealth.
Sources: EPA fueleconomy.gov model lists and ratings for the Subaru Baja (2003–2006) and the 2024 and 2026 Subaru lineups; Carscoops and AutoGuide reporting on Scott Lawrence’s February 2026 comments to Carsales. Photos: MercurySable99 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
