Japanese brand’s motorsport endeavours set to be a test bed for flagship Triton to rival Ford Ranger Raptor
Mitsubishi officials have outlined plans to deliver a new rival for off-road dual-cab 4×4 utes like the Ford Ranger Raptor, Nissan Navara Warrior and the upcoming Toyota HiLux GR Sport, based on the all-new Mitsubishi Triton due on sale Down Under by early 2024.
But it’s unclear whether the new Triton flagship, which will almost certainly don the Ralliart name, will be developed in-house by Mitsubishi or externally by a third-party such as Walkinshaw Group, which developed the Mitsubishi Triton Xtreme concept to farewell the current-generation Triton.
Although the homegrown Triton Xtreme has been put on ice and appears to have run out of time for release in this generation, there’s a chance Walkinshaw – which also engineered and produced W-Series versions of the outgoing Volkswagen Amarok ute – could help develop the new Triton Ralliart.
Either way, Mitsubishi is certain that learnings from its involvement in the Asia-Pacific AXCR off-road rally series will rub off on the new Triton Ralliart.
“We’ve been participating in a lot of competition and actually the purpose of doing that is not just for promotion, but also to gain a lot of information from that kind of very severe usage,” said Koichi Namiki, the executive officer for Product Strategy at Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.
“What we have done is put many sensors on it [the race ute] and then collected a lot of information from [it]… including how the vehicle acts in such severe cases, so it helps a lot.”
John Signoriello, the global boss of sales and marketing for Mitsubishi Motors and a former Mitsubishi Australia chief, added that a joint-venture isn’t off the table.
“We’ve been approached by a very reputable second-stage manufacturer who sees a lot of potential in the vehicle and has been speaking to us about some options,” he said.
“Those discussions are still underway, so I can’t say much more than that, other than to say they see some really good potential doing a lot more with that vehicle. All I can say at this point [is] watch that space.”
Mitsubishi last year announced plans to revive its Ralliart performance sub-brand, the first model from which is expected to be the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Ralliart.
So important is the Ralliart brand to Mitsubishi that it has established a specialist department within the Japanese company.
“Within the last 12 months, we’ve established what we call a Ralliart business promotion office, so that demonstrates how serious we are,” said Signoriello.
But how long it will be before a Triton Ralliart – or any Ralliart performance model for that matter – will hit Aussie roads remains unconfirmed.
“We’ve committed to setting up a business office that’s committed to working through business cases, and we’re still at the planning stage,” said Signoriello.
“We’re not far off some key milestones but we’re [still] at the planning stage.”
If an all-new Triton Ralliart ute emerges, it remains unclear how many – or if any – powertrain and/or chassis upgrades will accompany its Xtreme-style cosmetic makeover (pictured).
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Keyword: Mitsubishi Triton Ralliart shaping up