Mitsubishi says it won’t take hybrid technology from Alliance partners Nissan and Renault to speed up the introduction of a hybrid Triton to showrooms, saying it will rely in its own resources instead.
That’s despite Nissan, which has its e-Power hybrid powertrains, using the latest-generation Triton’s underpinnings for its new Navara that’s due in Australian showrooms next year.
Mitsubishi engineer Kaoru Sawase told CarExpert the automaker won’t share hybrid powertrains with Alliance partners Nissan and Renault despite what it sees as a “fast development” needed to add a hybrid Triton to its global lineup.
“Quite honestly, we are thinking about developing this vehicle stand-alone,” Sawase-san said. “First, we want to develop this Mitsubishi Motors technology, and there is no impact of Nissan speeding up the process.”
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In 2016 Mitsubishi became part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which was created in 1999, with the three automakers sharing platforms and engines to reduce development costs and achieve economies of scale.
The arrangement has led, for example, to Mitsubishi rebadging the Renault Captur as the ASX, and its Outlander sharing its platform with the Nissan X-Trail.
“Although it’s an alliance, we have different companies and we have to add cost for the differentiation at the moment… as a result of considering the total cost we concluded that we will use our own technology,” said Sawase-san on a future Triton hybrid.
“Renault has its own hybrid technology, as does Nissan and Mitsubishi. Each brand has passions; different ways of it being used, different character, different aims and goals.
“So as far as these technologies, each company will hold that technology to head towards the aim and the goal they want to achieve.”
Mitsubishi announced in 2023 it had an electric ute in its plans, but the brand’s global chief of engineering and product strategy, Hiroshi Nagaoka, said a hybrid – plug-in or otherwise – would be needed first.
The ‘electrified’ ute was planned to arrive in showrooms by 2028, with the automaker not announcing any changes to this timeline since then.
The current-generation Triton was launched in 2023 and remains available in Australia only with a 150kW/470Nm 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine and six-speed automatic – a powertrain also expected in the 2026 Navara.
Among the Triton’s main rivals, the new-generation Toyota HiLux has been confirmed to offer a battery-electric powertrain for 2026.
The Ford Ranger PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) arrived in Australia in mid-2025, shortly after the release of the BYD Shark 6 and GWM Cannon Alpha PHEV utes, and there’s a raft of other hybrid and electrified utes on the horizon from brands including JAC and Chery.
