Carmakers and their concepts should always be consumed together with all the salt the Dead Sea has to offer, in that you should always cast doubt on the odds of those concepts being turned into the reality of production cars we can actually buy.

Sometimes, they’re merely design exercises or a “Hail Mary” by carmakers in the red hoping to reignite excitement among the public.

Either way, take them all in the same conviction of a hot girl liking one of your Instagram posts… it never means she wants to hook up.

Nonetheless, the human mind is a fragile thing and can construct emotional connections based on the slimmest of hopes. A decade ago, Subaru toyed with our feelings when it unveiled the Subaru Cross Sports Design Concept at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show.

Tacky name aside, of which Subaru has a poor history with, it lit the internet on fire as it was essentially an SUV version of the Subaru BRZ.

Also Read: 15 photos to decide if you prefer the Subaru BRZ over the Toyota GR86

Subaru stated that the Cross Sports Concept Design was intended to be an urban SUV based on the sportiness and utility gathered by the carmaker from all its SUVs and off-road capable models thus far… of which we all know are aplenty.

However, the eagle-eyed would notice that it actually previewed the current second-generation BRZ... a decade before it was launched. Therefore, while most would've been fixated on the BRZ SUV we were robbed off, it actually hinted at what the new BRZ / 86 were going to look like, especially on the headlights and tailights.

Proportion-wise, it was an absolutely stunning thing… looking like the lovechild of a BRZ and Ferrari FF.

The dimensions were pretty compact with a length of just 4,300 mm, around that of a Range Rover Evoque coupe and a smidgen shorter than a Subaru XV. Nonetheless, Subaru assured the world the interior was spacious and comfortable with practical luggage capacity.

From the front, the BRZ’s design cues were clear as day with the grille and headlights requiring no DNA test to ascertain lineage while the long nose and wide stance gave it the sporty proportions inherited from the coupe.

From that point onwards to the rear, it’s a sexy, slippery slope with hints of a shooting brake’s silhouette.

It still didn’t forget its offroad duties with a skid plate beneath the front bumper and the obligatory fender mouldings around the tyre arches that hide 235/50R18 rubbers.

Power supposedly came from a 1.6-liter horizontally opposed direct-injection turbo engine that’s likely the FB16 DIT found in the Subaru Levorg. Power figures weren’t disclosed but  in the Levorg, it made 170 PS and 250 Nm of torque.

Also Read: All-new 2021 Subaru Levorg unveiled - new 1.8L turbo, 177 PS and 300 Nm

However, while the Levorg used a CVT and Subaru’s signature Asymmetrical All-wheel Drive system, the Cross Sport Design Concept would’ve have stayed loyal to the BRZ’s sportier theme, meaning rear-wheel drive and possibly a manual as well.

Of course, at the time a decade ago, commercialisation was considered but a decade later, all hopes are well and truly gone.

One can hope that with the new BRZ now around, Subaru might update the Cross Sport Design Concept with the new styling and bring it out for the 2023 Tokyo Motor Show that’s set for October 2023.