Nissan borrowed a ute from Mitsubishi, now it's returning the favour

The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance has seen plenty of model sharing across these lineups, and now Nissan is lending Mitsubishi a ute… shortly after Mitsubishi shared one of its utes.

In a press release outlining its Momentum 2030 plan for the US market, Mitsubishi has confirmed it’ll re-enter the North American pickup truck market “through its collaboration with Nissan”.

It also released a shadowy teaser of its future lineup, with the upcoming ute tucked away at the back.

"Central to the North American strategy is an expanded focus on adventure-oriented and off-road-capable vehicles. As customer demand continues to shift toward more rugged and versatile products, Mitsubishi Motors will broaden its portfolio with vehicles designed to strengthen the brand's presence in these growing segments," the company said in its release.

This will include a more rugged, off-road-focused Outlander variant due in the US in the first quarter (January to March) of 2027, and potentially the return of the Pajero to the US later in the decade where it could resurrect the Montero nameplate.

It’s hard to make out the new model in the teaser image, but it could be either a lightly restyled version of the current Frontier or of the upcoming next-generation Frontier, set to use new body-on-frame underpinnings shared with other future Nissan models like the revived Xterra.

Given the current US-built Frontier is only sold in the US, Canada and Mexico, it’s unlikely a Mitsubishi-badged version would be offered anywhere else.

Indeed, Mitsubishi sells its Triton throughout Latin America, Asia, and other global regions, including Australia. It even sells it in Mexico, which potentially means this new Nissan-based ute will be exclusive to the US and Canada.

While the US is a market which, like Australia, loves utes, Mitsubishi hasn’t sold its Triton there since 1996, when the Mighty Max – as it was known – was discontinued.

Since then, it has offered just one ute: the Dodge Dakota-based Raider, sold from model year 2006 to 2009.

This is in large part due to the Chicken Tax, a 25 per cent tariff on imported light commercial vehicles which has been in effect since 1964.

This tax has forced automakers to either produce their light commercial vehicles locally or find loopholes, as Ford did with its Transit Connect when it imported vehicles in people mover-spec with rear windows and then removed their rear seats and seatbelts once they reached the US.

An imported Triton would likely be prohibitively expensive against rivals like the Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado and Ford Ranger, and besides, all vehicles in this segment in the US use petrol or hybrid power instead of diesels like the Triton.

Being based on a Nissan, the new Mitsubishi ute will likely feature a V6 or V6 hybrid powertrain.

While Mitsubishi will introduce a Nissan-based ute in the US market, in Australia last year it was the other way around.

Nissan launched a lightly restyled Triton badged as the Navara for markets such as Australia and New Zealand, leaving the Frontier for North America, with the previous D23 Navara living on in markets such as Latin America.

MORE: Explore the Mitsubishi showroom