New Navara and Triton delayed

Nissan's new Navara will not arrive in local showrooms until at least May, while Mitsubishi's fifth-generation Triton won't land here until June at the earliest.

Both new Japanese-brand, Thai-built workhorses were revealed last year and were originally expected in Australia in "December or January".

Mitsubishi says "a late Q2 arrival" was now likely for its new Triton, but cautioned that "nothing has been locked in just yet" and that its release may even be "further [away] than that".

Motoring.com.au understands the new model's delay is related to the large number of current-model Tritons still unsold in Australia.

Our sources estimate that Mitsubishi and its dealers currently have thousands of examples of its L200-series Triton unsold locally, despite the heavily discounted four-wheel drive range being second only to Toyota's HiLux in terms of popularity.

Sales of the volume-selling Triton 4x4 were down 2.7 per cent last year, but have slumped a further 17 per cent in January.

Meantime, Nissan Australia most recently said the redesigned D23-series Navara was due to arrive in the first quarter of this year, but now says it will be later due to an unexpectedly late production slot.

Last month Navara sales were down 14 per cent, following a 32 per cent decline last year.

However, Nissan appears to have less of a stock issue with its outgoing model, with our sources indicating that less than 200 Navaras remain unsold, split evenly between the older D22 and later D40 4x4.

Either way, the delays mean the launches of both new one-tonners are likely to roughly co-incide with the release of both the facelifted Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 around mid-year.

Australia's most important ute release of 2015 will be the replacement for the country's top-selling commercial, Toyota's new HiLux, which is expected in the final quarter.

Once again all models will be offered with single-, extended- and dual-cab body styles, plus 4x2 and 4x4 drivetrains and a range of petrol and diesel engines.

The new Navara will arrive with single- and twin-turbo versions of Nissan's YS23 turbo-diesel engine. Displacing 2.3 litres, the four-cylinder unit will deliver fuel economy gains of up to 19 per cent while also outputting as much as 140kW and 450Nm. A low-output 2.5-litre petrol will also be offered in 4x2 variants.

Mitsubishi's Triton, on the other hand, is expected to offer a 2.4-litre all-aluminium direct-injected and turbocharged four-cylinder making 133kW and 430Nm, as well as the carry-over (94kW/194Nm) 2.4-litre petrol unit in lower-grade variants.