Remember our good ol’ Buddy from Mitsuoka? You know, the Toyota RAV4 with looks inspired by a Chevrolet truck? Yeah, that one.

Anyway, the friendly-named Buddy just went on sale in Japan on 26-November and the response has been overwhelming.

According to Creative Trend, the model received a huge response from interested buyers. It even caused Mitsuoka's website to crash.

But here’s the kicker. According to the Japanese blog, the waiting period for the Buddy would take between two and a half to three years!

Some of you are probably complaining about getting your X50 a few months behind schedule but waiting for more than 2 years? That’s probably the same time to get a bespoke supercar!

However, as we said before, Mitsuoka is no ordinary carmaker. The proud tenth Japanese car manufacturer doesn’t have a mass production line and the brand mainly produces its models by hand.

Mitsuoka plans to produce 60 units of the Buddy in 2021 with an annual production of 150 units a year after 2022. It is due to this limited production capacity that it takes so long for the Buddy to reach its owners.

Starting from JPY 4.7 million, the Buddy costs nearly twice the amount as the RAV4 it’s based on. That still doesn’t stop buyers from seeing the friendly side of the Buddy. Creative Trend quoted a Mitsuoka salesperson that 2021 and 2022 models have been sold out.

Apart from the exterior, the Buddy carries over the RAV4’s interior and powertrains with a choice of 2.0-litre petrol or 2.5-litre petrol hybrid engines, so essentially you’re getting a dressed-up RAV4 for twice the price.

Nevertheless, the Buddy could be Mitsuoka’s golden goose, hopping on the trend of SUVs and tapping on buyers’ interests in getting a unique-looking vehicle.