Mitsubishi outlined its near- and long-term plans Friday, including a new midsize truck for the U.S.
If you look around any Mitsubishi lot right now (or for the past several years), you’ll see nothing but cars and crossovers. The automaker wants to change that, however, and on Friday confirmed it is working on bringing a new midsize truck to the North American market. For reference, the last pickup Mitsubishi actually sold here was the Dakota-based Raider, which went down about as well as that sort of tie-up sounds like it would. This latest pickup project, however, is being done in collaboration with Nissan.
This announcement is particularly timely, for a few different reasons. Not only does Mitsubishi need some new and exciting product here in the U.S., but it confirmed this truck alongside the imminent return of the Pajero SUV, which we knew as the Montero here in the States. The brand is dead set on bringing off-roaders back into its portfolio. While Mitsubishi does sell the Triton/L200 overseas, the company’s latest financial outlook and long-term vision includes more distinctive products across global markets. By doing so, it hopes to increase its overall retail sales volume from about 700,000 units (globally) in fiscal year 2025 to more than 930,000 units by the early 2030s.
In the grand scheme of things, this Nissan co-developed pickup and the new Pajero/Montero are just two in a run of 13 new models the automaker plans to launch within the next five years.
So…what are we looking at for Mitsubishi’s new midsize truck?
Another angle to why we’re hearing about this new truck right now is happening over at Nissan itself. Work is already underway on a next-generation Frontier, which should arrive at U.S. dealers before the end of the decade. The upcoming truck could likely bring a new hybrid powertrain, similar to what’s coming to the new Xterra, as well as fresh styling and technological updates to the current model, which went on sale for the 2022 model year.
The word “collaboration” is key here, as Mitsubishi looks to expand its presence into new market segments. At this point, we don’t know whether this truck (or these trucks, more precisely) will more or less be carbon copies of each other, or if each will bring its own character and target demographic to the mix. More than likely, the underlying platform will be shared between the two trucks, as well as the potential powertrains. From there, though, we could see some differences between the two.
It’s also unclear what Mitsubishi might call this new midsize truck. It did renew international trademarks for the “Endeavor” name, so its possible we could see that make a comeback as this pickup makes its formal debut.
This co-development could allow a way for Mitsubishi to feasibly sell a North American-specific truck in the U.S., since Nissan builds the Frontier in Mississippi. Otherwise, it would have to import its truck from abroad, which would face new import tariffs as well as the long-running 25% Chicken Tax that’s kept the Triton and so many other overseas trucks from making it to the American market.
It seems like we will still have to wait awhile to see any more official details, as the collaboration may be in its earlier stages. However, when a new Mitsubishi truck (and Nissan Frontier, for that matter) make it to the market as well as Hyundai’s midsize body-on-frame truck, the midsize truck market could become even more crowded as competitive around the turn of the decade.
