In case you’ve forgotten, the last Mitsubishi pickup truck in North America was the Raider. The Dakota-based nameplate was canceled some ten years ago and since then the Japanese car manufacturer has nothing to offer in the segment. According to Mitsubishi Motors North America COO Mark Chaffin, things are going to change pretty soon, as the company started working on a new mid-size pickup truck. Actually, the model isn’t all-new; no this would be a pretty familiar vehicle which has been sold under various names in 150 countries worldwide. The U.S.-bound model will definitely arrive in two or three years from now as the 2022 Mitsubishi Triton.
Truth to be told, Mitsubishi isn’t too successful in North America at the moment. On the contrary, the Japanese company is struggling to survive here, so a strong player will definitely help into the fight. Even though it doesn’t look that way at first glance, the next-generation Triton could be a good deal here thanks to an alliance with Renault and Nissan. This way, the company’s future mid-size truck could be based on the next-gen Nissan Frontier. Moreover, these two (and several other models) will definitely share the same underpinnings. The new body-on-frame platform will reportedly make the successors lighter and should enable using of new technologies, including electricity.
As for the next-gen Nissan Frontier, there’s no word regarding any kind of hybrid technology so far. Instead, the redesigned truck will most definitely feature a new 3.0-liter V6 with almost 300 horsepower. The latest reports suggest that there might be an entry-level turbo-four in cards as well, but that’s not confirmed yet. The redesigned truck will also improve gearbox, so instead of today’s 5-speed shifter, the new model should feature a seven-speed automatic ‘box.
As for the U.S.-specs 2022 Mitsubishi Triton, the truck will most probably get pretty much the same V6 option as the sibling from Nissan. However, the automaker might also give a try with a hybrid pickup truck. If so, then the electrified model should host the Outlander’s powertrain. The compact crossover combines a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with two 60-kilowatt electric motors, one on the front transaxle and one on the rear. The motors get power via 12-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that’s stored under the rear cargo-area floor. This one uses the all-wheel drive of course.