Subaru Baja - Design and Engineering

Design and Engineering

Working with technical support from Subaru Japan, a special team led by Peter Tenn, Subaru senior designer, penned the Baja in the United States. According to an August, 2002 interview with Tenn, "the Baja's jarring look is homage to rally-race trucks. It's supposed to look funky, look different. It doesn't fit any category, and we knew that going in. It's not like anything else on the road. And that's important to a lot of people."

The Baja followed closely Subaru's ST-X (Sport Truck X-perimental) concept vehicle presented at the 2000 North American International Auto Show, and also designed by a special Subaru America design team. The ST-X offered a greater complement of features than the production Baja (power rear window, under floor storage compartment, tailgate cup holders), but nevertheless set the production groundwork for an Outback based, four-door, car-truck hybrid.

In a package 150 mm (6 in) longer than an Outback, the Baja featured a four-door passenger compartment along with a 1,040 mm (41 in) open bed and drop-down tailgate. A system marketed as the "Switchback" allowed the rear passenger seat to fold down and a small thru-hatch to fold inward, allowing an extended length of 1,910 mm (75 in) to the end of the open tailgate. A light in the instrument cluster signaled an "open" status for the Switchback.

Two stainless steel flying buttresses behind the passenger compartment, marketed as Sports Bars, provide structural reinforcement for the open bed.