Mitsubishi Triton flagship to rival Ford Ranger Wildtrak

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is expected to release a top-of-the-range Triton ute variant in the near future, following the reveal of the facelifted range in Thailand this week.

At the global launch, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation senior vice-president of global sales and marketing Guillaume Cartier confirmed the Japanese carmaker was working on a flagship Triton.

"To be successful on pick-up, if you want to be successful, you need to have enough advancement on the lifecyle plan, and within that, you need to have some variant that is a bit iconic – so that is something we are working on," he said.

"We will have some things, I cannot tell you now because that is all you will focus on now, but we will have something that will give us the pleasure to speak together again."

When asked whether the upcoming ute will wear the Ralliart badge – Mitsubishi's motorsport and performance moniker – Mr Cartier said: "I will come to see you in Australia."

It was previously rumored that the new ute would be a high-performance vehicle, like the Ford Ranger Raptor which boasts a 157kW/500Nm twin-turbo diesel engine, however it is more likely to wear cosmetic and equipment upgrades, rather than feature a warmed-up engine.

From this, it can be assumed that the Triton Ralliart will come in at about the $60,000-plus mark, pitting the vehicle against key rivals like the Toyota HiLux Rugged X, the HSV SportsCat and the popular Ford Ranger Wildtrak.

At the reveal of the facelifted Triton range, Mitsubishi showed a modified version of its updated pick-up equipped with accessories such as a sportsbar, black wheels, orange paintwork and a sticker which read 'Triton Plus'.

No performance figures, including engine specifications, were confirmed, however Mitsubishi said it was gauging interest in such a vehicle before confirming it for production.

For reference, the standard Triton is motivated by a 133kW/430Nm 2.4-litre turbo-diesel, matched with either a six-speed manual, a five-speed automatic, or an all-new six-speed automatic transmission.

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation corporate vice-president of product planning Vincent Cobee said the brand was aware of the recent pick-up market developments.

"That's a very interesting trend (accessorised, lifestyle utes)," he said. "There is always that misconception that a pick-up is only a (work) vehicle, (but) it's mostly mixed usage.

"There is also, I would say, 90 per cent personal usage type of pick-ups, and we have seen in the past couple of years the appearance of that high performance, high styling, high toughness...

"Somewhere in our long menu of Christmas wish list, we intend to address that question."

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