Ever since Nissan swooped in to acquire a 34% equity stake in Mitsubishi Motors last year – bringing the latter firmly into the Renault-Nissan alliance – there have been rumours that the next-generation versions of the respective manufacturers’ bakkies would share a platform.
And now that rumour has been confirmed.
Mitsubishi chief operations officer Trevor Mann told CarAdvice that he had already spoken to Renault-Nissan alliance chief Carlos Ghosn about the plans for the next-generation Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi Triton, which are both reportedly scheduled for arrival in about 2021.
So, what does this mean for the upcoming Triton?
“As far as what the customer sees, feels and touches, that will be Mitsubishi. The advantage of the alliance … obviously, it is component sharing, platform sharing, this type of thing. It’s a necessary element for the alliance, and for Mitsubishi,” Mann said, according to the Australian publication.
“What the body shape is, what the body style is, what the design will be, how it feels and drives will be uniquely engineered by Mitsubishi,” he added.
Does that mean the Triton (which has also spawned the Fiat Fullback) will end up being a Navara – which will also underpins the upcoming Mercedes-Benz X-Class and Renault Alaskan – underneath?
“What we would do is say, first of all, which is the best. So, we could be talking about powertrains, we could be talking about platforms. So which technically will we say is the best platform, technically which is best in terms of performance. And obviously from a cost point of view, which is the cheapest. We’ll make this balance between best and affordable,” Mann explained.
“What Mitsubishi wants as its key attributes for its pick-up will be engineered by Mitsubishi. What Nissan wants for its key attributes for its pick-up will be engineered by Nissan,” he said.
