mitsubishi triton drive 6 rgy1
Matt Brogan4 Feb 2019
NEWS

Mitsubishi Triton 'Raptor' no closer

Tough-truck option unclear as Mitsubishi focusses on improving safety for its light commercial ute

Manufacturers of light commercial utilities are scrambling to mimic the success of Ford’s Ranger Raptor and the newly facelifted Mitsubishi Triton is an obvious candidate for the ‘tough truck’ treatment.

Jeep, Toyota, Holden, HSV and Nissan have all expressed interest in a competitor for Ford’s strong-selling Ranger Raptor locally, and the three-diamond brand has hinted at the possibility of a Triton-based Raptor rival previously.

But at the launch of the updated Triton range in Tasmania this week, Mitsubishi Motors Australia head of product planning, James Tol, would not reveal if there were any plans for a flagship off-road variant.

Instead – in an indication that a hard-core version may not eventuate until the arrival of the next-generation Mitsubishi Triton, which will be developed alongside the next Nissan Navara -- Tol chose to focus on the improved safety and technology of the popular workhorse range.

“There’s certainly an opportunity there, but I’m not going to speculate as to whether we are or we aren’t [planning to produce a Ranger Raptor rival],” he said.

“At the moment we’re concentrating on getting the model range we have bedded down and launched. I’d never say never… we will talk about that down the track.”

mitsubishi triton static 4 7r6q

Tol said the new Triton offers the look and off-road capability to challenge the likes of Ford’s Ranger, and said these attributes were vital to make an impact among private and commercial buyers in Australia’s booming ute sector – where Triton currently ranks at an enviable third place.

“The new Triton certainly has a much better visual appeal, and we think that ‘harder edge’ is needed in this market, but it’s got the substance that comes with it.

“We’re really happy with the technology and safety that’s gone into this [Triton] – it’s what ought to be in vehicles like this – and we worked really hard to make sure we could get collision mitigation and lane-departure warning actually into the workhorse grades, and we did it,” he added.

Mitsubishi is the first to offer the combination of seven airbags, forward collision mitigation (including bulbar-compatible autonomous emergency braking), lane departure warning, blind-spot detection, unintended acceleration mitigation and rear cross-traffic alert in its light commercial utility range – outpacing even higher-priced competitors like the Ranger, Mercedes-Benz X-Class and Volkswagen Amarok.

mitsubishi triton new old frg0

The safety technology is available across the line-up, whether as standard or as an option. Mitsubishi offers the potentially life-saving equipment as part of a bundled ‘ADAS’ option package on entry-level GLX variants and says it hopes the available safety equipment will help sway fleet buyers to Triton in even larger numbers.

“I wouldn’t say there’s been pushback from larger fleets on the safety front just yet, but they’re starting to take an interest,” he continued.

“If there was serious pushback they would already be buying different vehicles,” he said, hinting at rivals like the Toyota HiLux, whose stranglehold on the fleet sector exists without the safety technology offered by Mitsubishi.

“But I think what this is really doing is opening new opportunities for us – a little bit like when Ford first came to the market with a five-star [ANCAP] ute – that opened lots of doors for them. In the workhorse space vehicles are there to do a job.

“Capability really is one of the primary concerns, but safety is now definitely right up there, and I think that now we’ve broken in and said ‘if you need to buy this style of workhorse ute you can now get the safety technology you deserve’ that we’ll see more interest from safety-conscious buyers.”

Visit carsales.com.au again this Thursday for our first Australian drive review of the 2019 Mitsubishi Triton range.

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Written byMatt Brogan
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