New Business Plans Between Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan Reveal New Models for the U.S.
It may be surprising, but Mitsubishi Motors isn’t a brand that specializes only in SUVs. Especially after the Mitsubishi Mirage was discontinued, this may be hard to believe. Overseas is a different story. Mitsubishi makes passenger electric kei cars, minivans, regular cargo vans, and even pickup trucks. So, why haven’t we seen anything else over here? It’s anyone’s guess, really, but that might change. Just a year after Mitsubishi announced its “Challenge 2025” business strategy, Nissan released its business plans for the next three years, and it sounds like the two automakers are finally going to leverage their resources from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance (Alliance) for new model releases in North America – a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) and a pickup truck.
This is a bit surprising, but not completely out of nowhere. In March 2023, when Mitsubishi announced its “Challenge 2025” business strategy, there were many, many vehicles still under wraps. We eventually got a good look at the Mitsubishi Colt, a rebadged Renault Clio, and although it’s only sold overseas to keep Mitsubishi afloat in Europe, there are a number of vehicles yet to be seen. There’s a multi-purpose vehicle, a new 3-row SUV, a PPV whatever that is, a pickup truck, a pickup truck BEV, a 2-row SUV BEV, a two 2-row SUV hybrid vehicles, a multi-purpose BEV, an Xpander hybrid, a new mini electric passenger car, and twos BEVs from the Alliance. Most of these will be only sold overseas.
The silver lining comes in the form of those two BEVs from the Alliance. Ever since Mitsubishi Motors invested in the Renault subsidiary Ampere brand and Ampere BEV manufacturing facility, there has been talk of new BEV models coming to Mitsubishi as well as Nissan in the coming years. Most likely, a new medium-sized electric SUV for Mitsubishi Motors will be released in North America, and another model has been revealed with the Nissan three-year strategy. According to Nissan, one of the five new vehicle concepts is a new Ariya crossover. All bets are on this model will be one of the new BEV Mitsubishi Motors will release in North America. It’s unclear if this is one of the two Alliance BEVs or not, but since it’s strictly between Nissan and Mitsubishi, we’re thinking a third BEV is in the loop.
That just leaves us with the new pickup truck. The new pickup truck hidden in the “Challenge 2025” business strategy was more than likely the new generation of the Mitsubishi Triton midsize pickup truck, also only sold overseas. It’s a little crazy the automaker refuses to bring this one to America. After all, the midsize pickup truck segment is very niche at the moment, with only one other automaker selling a midsize pickup truck. It would be the perfect way for Mitsubishi Motors to bring a pickup truck to the U.S. and make some sales with new consumers looking for a small truck.
If not that, there was, however, a new BEV pickup truck under wraps. There’s some hope that this will be the model to come to America according to the new Nissan business plan. In the next few years, Nissan and Mitsubishi will jointly develop a next-generation pickup truck. Said to be replacement for the current midsize Nissan Frontier and the Mitsubishi Triton, not only will there be a new pickup truck in the lineup, but this one is also slated for a North American release. There’s even a picture of it circling the internet with a crew-cab body and a short bed length, and both, electric and plug-in-hybrid powertrain options under consideration.
It feels like it’s taking forever, but we might just finally get that midsize pickup truck from Mitsubishi, even if it will be just another rebadge. Want to follow along and learn more about upcoming models from Mitsubishi Motors? Join us on University Mitsubishi social media.
0 comment(s) so far on New Business Plans Between Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan Reveal New Models for the U.S.