Mitsubishi Triton Is A Shoo-In For Midsize Market In The U.S.

The 2024 Mitsubishi Triton is lastly right here, and it’s now on sale in Thailand and heading to Japan. Mitsubishi picked a hell of a time to launch a brand new midsize truck with a concentrate on off-roading, now that America has a renewed affinity for smaller vans. Regardless that Mitsubishi says it’s fairly focused on promoting the brand new Triton, aka L200, within the States, the Japanese carmaker shouldn’t be committing to something, and that’s a disgrace.

The Mitsubishi Triton is now in its sixth era. Previous to this newest mannequin, the Triton had gone untouched by Mitsubishi designers for over a decade. The final redesign to the Triton got here in 2012, which looks as if a lifetime in the past. In all that point, promoting a midsize truck in America — the land of full dimension pickups just like the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram, should have appeared futile — particularly for a carmaker struggling to remain afloat within the U.S. like Mitsubishi.

However guess what? Midsize vans are again, and as a lot as we may argue that midsizers aren’t actually again given their fashionable dimensions, there’s no denying that the U.S. market is awful with new choices. Ford, Chevy, GMC, Toyota and Nissan have all returned with redesigned variations of their stalwart vans. Hell, even Jeep and Honda have some pores and skin within the sport, which ought to be an indication that Mitsubishi ought to be strongly contemplating importing the brand new Triton to the U.S.

Certainly, the Mitsubishi Triton wouldn’t be misplaced among the many new Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier. In reality, the ’Mitsu appears to be like strikingly comparable the Colorado and Canyon twins. The Triton even takes a web page out of the Chevy playbook, with Mitsubishi providing one single engine with three doable output specs.

The 2024 Triton might be powered by a 2.4-liter turbocharged inline-four engine, not not like its may-be rivals within the U.S., however the distinction is that the Triton is diesel-powered engine. Perhaps that bodes badly for its prospects within the U.S. now that the EV transition is underway, however not likely. Neither GM nor Ford nor Toyota have a lot as confirmed the opportunity of an EV midsize truck, so why rely the turbodiesel in opposition to the Triton?

The two.4-liter turbodiesel makes as much as 201 horsepower and 347 lb-ft of torque at 1,500 revolutions per minute. That’s a excessive determine at low torque, which is the entire level of diesels within the first place. However that’s the excessive output model of the Triton’s 4N16 engine; the mid-grade model makes 181 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque, whereas the least highly effective model makes 148 hp and 243 lb-ft of torque.

Mitsubishi in all probability shouldn’t trouble with the low- and mid-grade engines, however the excessive output appears good. And the brand new Triton sports activities different enhancements, from a lighter ladder body, to a double wishbone suspension up entrance, and a restricted slip differential that helps the truck management its yaw to extend cornering efficiency.

But when a commonrail turbodiesel isn’t sufficient to get your consideration the Mitsubishi Triton might be bought in three totally different cab configurations, together with a single cab. Bless. As if that weren’t sufficient, the Triton might be out there with a six-speed guide transmission. And if that’s nonetheless not sufficient, Mitsubishi is probably going the one carmaker on the earth that’s shortened the mattress peak of its vans, dropping the Triton’s mattress by nearly 2 inches. It looks as if Mitsubishi is listening to what truck customers need. Now if it might solely hearken to truck followers within the U.S.