The Japanese automaker Toyota is fighting hard across the US automotive market for the sales throne, but the crown remained in possession of General Motors during the first three quarters of 2024.
There's a difference of around 220k units between GM's 1.95 million (down one percent) sales and Toyota Motor North America's 1.73 million deliveries thanks to a good surge of 6.2% compared to the first nine months of last year. Naturally, the engine of sales for the Japanese carmaker is none other than its XA50 fifth generation RAV4 compact crossover SUV. In fact, no less than 350k units were delivered to customers during the January through September period – and in September, there were almost 1.5k sales during each business day!
Obviously, it's pretty darn incredible how Toyota keeps the RAV4 popular even though the current iteration has been around since 2018, and the mid-cycle facelift already occurred in late 2021. Well, the 2025 model year has ICE, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid options, as well as no less than 13 versions available for grabs from as low as $28,675. Alas, all of them look mostly the same.
In order to further increase the sales reach, the parallel universes of vehicular CGI have come up with an alternative idea for the 2025MY – all courtesy of a member of the imaginative guild of digital car content creators. More precisely, the virtual automotive artist behind the Evren Ozgun Spy Sketch channel on YouTube has a 'slightly' different interpretation of the 2025 Toyota RAV4 – and we're being very subtle.
In fact, the unofficial and hypothetical design project completely transforms the ruggedly angular RAV4 into a ritzier product with sparkling white paint, a glossy front grille, a sportier profile, and luxury elements like hidden doorknobs. The styling is also way more elegant than the real deal. Plus, there are sporty elements like the glossy black cladding around the front, back, and sides, plus the black alloy wheels and cross-drilled brakes.
All in all, it also looks more compact than the original from the real world – and there's even a glimpse of a completely new interior featuring dual screens in the center. Sadly, there's no information about the powertrain options – though we can't imagine it with an all-electric option because there are chromed exhaust tips around the back.
As for the real Toyota RAV4, everyone is eagerly awaiting to see if the Japanese automaker is keeping the best-selling compact crossover SUV unchanged for another couple of model years or if they will finally announce an all-new sixth-generation XA60 model for the 2026 or 2027 model years. So, what do you think? Would you buy this alternative version of the 2025 Toyota RAV4, the real deal, or are you waiting for TMNA's announcement of a new generation?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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