How soon the NZ-popular ute goes electric is wrapped into ‘Challenge 25’ strategy envisaging 16 new models before decade’s end.

CONJECTURE electrification won’t come as quickly to the next Triton utility as has been previously picked has arisen from study of a new product plan out of its maker.

Mitsubishi Motors Japan made little noise about the ‘Challenge 25’ strategy unveiled last week, and local affiliate Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand has so far been quiet as well.

The plan is nonetheless of high interest, as it outlines head office intent to launch 16 new vehicles – nine hybrid and electric – over the next five years, many likely to be relevant to New Zealand.

The vehicles and their release scheduling are teased in the images here today, which are plucked from the ‘Challenge 25’ document, which is publicly accessible. 

The proposal will play out with support in growth markets from the Alliance, the global structure that has Mitsubishi as a junior partner with Nissan and Renault.

One aspect of the strategy that might be particular immediate interest concerns Triton (above), given the sixth-generation line is being revealed later this year and will also be the basis for several other vehicles, one being the next Nissan Navara.

There’s also certainty, reinforced by the latest data share, that also coming off the body-on-frame platform are the fourth-generation Pajero Sport.

Conjecture in growing that it will also be the basis of a larger unibody three-row SUV to rival the Toyota Highlander, Nissan Pathfinder and Hyundai Palisade. Mitsubishi’s model is expected to be seen in 2025. 

Triton, though, is clearly the core contender here: It’s been the third strongest-selling ute, behind Toyota Hilux and the market dominant Ford Ranger. 

Though it has yet to be seen without camouflage, new Triton has nonetheless been spied numerous times in the past 12 months, including in Australia where it has undergone rigorous testing.

 Triton has been subject to much speculation about it being the first Japanese one-tonne utility to embrace electrification and thus the first foil from a high-volume player to the country’s only electric ute. The LDV T60 goes wholly electric with a modest battery drivetrain but is rear-drive and has cargo and range limitations. 

Stories have been rife for more two years about Triton being set up for hybrid as a certainty, potentially with plug-in replenishment, and even going to full electric.

 A done deal? It’s hard to say. Dissection of ‘Challenge 25’ by the online portal of Australia’s Wheels magazine reminds that Mitsubishi Australia’s chief executive office, Shaun Westcott, told media in his country recently that an electrified Triton – either plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or full-EV – won’t be availed at launch. The reason? Inability to meet customer needs at present.

"There are people that develop show ponies and there's a place for show ponies. That's fine. But we understand who our core target market is, and that's middle-income Australia, working Australia," he has been reported as saying.

Putting that aside, the report suggests that the timeline for introduction of an all-important battery-electric pickup truck designed specifically in that role won’t occur prior to 2029.

 The Wheels report says it is unknown if this model will be similar in size to the mid-size Triton, or a full-size rival to the Ford F-150 and the recently revealed RAM 1500 REV to lift Mitsubishi's sales in North America. 

The teaser image here suggests it won’t share a platform with the next-generation Triton, with a longer and wider body, and a larger tub – but it’s unclear if the computer-generated vehicle under the sheet is representative of the final version.

 Could it be based on a future all-electric Nissan pick-up. Another publication, Automotive News, has said the appropriately-named Nissan Titan, which only sells in North America as a foil to the big domestic traydecks could be axed by 2025. Next year is the nameplate’s 20th anniversary. Nissan built a plant in the United States expressly for the construction of the Titan, as well as other vehicles built off the same platform, such as the Nissan Armada.

The product plan also hints at other ideas coming to fruition. One is that a production version of the XFC Concept (above), revealed at a motor show in Asia in 2022, will debut in coming months, potentially as a replacement for the 13-year-old ASX compact crossover, but only in developing markets.

The ASX as NZ sees it could well plod on for at least another 18 months; whether its very stretched production cycle – the longest for any current Mitsubishi now the even more elderly Pajero has been dismissed – will deliver yet another facelift atop the already updates it has received remains to be seen. ASX as it sells in Europe, of course, is a different car again being a rebadged Renault. 

The images Mitsubishi has put out also suggests there may be another compact to medium SUV; a space currently filled by the Eclipse Cross. It will offer a hybrid powertrain, either as the only form of propulsion or to complement an internal-combustion-only powertrain. There’s talk, already, this might be a Mitsubishi version of the Nissan Qashqai, just landed here. That’s a logical idea, given the current Mitsubishi Outlander is, of course, closely related to the Qashqai and the Nissan X-Trail, in that all run the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi CMF-C platform.

 The Wheels synopsis proposes that two all-electric vehicles – a badge-engineered Renault for Europe and a badge-engineered Nissan for Europe and North America – will debut almost simultaneously in 2025.