The Mitsubishi Triton Is A Shoo-In For The Midsize Truck Market In The U.S.
The 2024 Mitsubishi Triton is finally here, and it’s now on sale in Thailand and heading to Japan. Mitsubishi picked a hell of a time to release a new midsize truck with a focus on off-roading, now that America has a renewed affinity for smaller trucks. Even though Mitsubishi says it’s quite interested in selling the new Triton, aka L200, in the States, the Japanese carmaker is not committing to anything, and that’s a shame.
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The Mitsubishi Triton is now in its sixth generation. Prior to this latest model, the Triton had gone untouched by Mitsubishi designers for over a decade. The last redesign to the Triton came in 2012, which seems like a lifetime ago. In all that time, selling a midsize truck in America — the land of full size pickups like the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado and Dodge Ram, must have seemed futile — especially for a carmaker struggling to stay afloat in the U.S. like Mitsubishi.
Photo: Mitsubishi
But guess what? Midsize trucks are back, and as much as we could argue that midsizers aren’t really back given their modern dimensions, there’s no denying that the U.S. market is lousy with new options. Ford, Chevy, GMC, Toyota and Nissan have all returned with redesigned versions of their stalwart trucks. Hell, even Jeep and Honda have some skin in the game, which should be a sign that Mitsubishi should be strongly considering importing the new Triton to the U.S.
Indeed, the Mitsubishi Triton would not be out of place among the new Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, GMC Canyon, Ford Ranger and Nissan Frontier. In fact, the ’Mitsu looks strikingly similar the Colorado and Canyon twins. The Triton even takes a page out of the Chevy playbook, with Mitsubishi offering one single engine with three possible output specifications.
Photo: Mitsubishi
The 2024 Triton will be powered by a 2.4-liter turbocharged inline-four engine, not unlike its could-be rivals in the U.S., but the difference is that the Triton is diesel-powered engine. Maybe that bodes badly for its prospects in the U.S. now that the EV transition is underway, but not really. Neither GM nor Ford nor Toyota have so much as confirmed the possibility of an EV midsize truck, so why count the turbodiesel against the Triton?
The 2.4-liter turbodiesel makes up to 201 horsepower and 347 lb-ft of torque at 1,500 revolutions per minute. That’s a high figure at low torque, which is the whole point of diesels in the first place. But that’s the high output version of the Triton’s 4N16 engine; the mid-grade version makes 181 hp and 317 lb-ft of torque, while the least powerful version makes 148 hp and 243 lb-ft of torque.
Mitsubishi probably shouldn’t bother with the low- and mid-grade engines, but the high output seems good. And the new Triton sports other enhancements, from a lighter ladder frame, to a double wishbone suspension up front, and a limited slip differential that helps the truck control its yaw to increase cornering performance.
But if a commonrail turbodiesel isn’t enough to get your attention the Mitsubishi Triton will be sold in three different cab configurations, including a single cab. Bless. As if that weren’t enough, the Triton will be available with a six-speed manual transmission. And if that’s still not enough, Mitsubishi is likely the only carmaker in the world that’s shortened the bed height of its trucks, dropping the Triton’s bed by almost 2 inches. It seems like Mitsubishi is listening to what truck users want. Now if it would only listen to truck fans in the U.S.
Photo: Mitsubishi
Photo: Mitsubishi
Photo: Mitsubishi
