Carlos Ghosn says that Nissan and Mitsubishi plan to collaborate to become a global “powerhouse” in the increasingly important bakkie segment.
Last week, Mitsubishi officially joined the Renault-Nissan Alliance, with Nissan finally completing its acquisition of a 34% equity stake in its fellow Japanese automaker.
And now the Alliance’s CEO, who has also assumed the role of chairman of Mitsubishi, says he has big plans for the group’s approach to the pickup segment.
Ghosn told Automotive News that Nissan hopes to “capitalise on Mitsubishi Motors’ strengths in pickup trucks to become jointly a powerhouse globally in the segment”.
The Mitsubishi Triton (known as the L200 in some markets) is currently in its fifth generation, and is particularly popular in the ASEAN region. The third-generation Nissan Navara, meanwhile, was unveiled back in 2014. As an aside, both have yet to reach South African shores.
The tie-up, of course, could mean that the next-generation versions of these two bakkies – as well as other pickups that share their underpinnings (like the Navara-based Mercedes-Benz pickup and Renault Alaskan, and the Triton-based Fiat Fullback) could be co-developed and ultimately all run on the same platform.
“Segments of joint platform development could include pick-up trucks in the ASEAN market where [Mitsubishi] has particular expertise,” Nissan co-CEO Hiroto Saikawa told CarAdvice.
In a separate guest column for Automotive News, Ghosn added that “Nissan stands to benefit by harnessing Mitsubishi’s know-how in the kei car segment in Japan and its strength in pickup trucks”, while also taking advantage of Mitsubishi’s plug-in hybrid electric systems.
