Mitsubishi Ralliart revival may not be led by a hot Triton after all

Friday, 17 September 2021

It seems a Ralliart Triton may not be the first model from the reborn performance arm.

Mitsubishi is bringing back the Ralliart sub-brand but, despite official imagery showing a Triton ute dressed in Ralliart livery, it seems the ute may not be the first to get the treatment.

According to Mitsubishi Australia’s product strategy boss, Owen Thomson, who spoke to carsales over in Australia, the Ralliart brand might need to mature before any commitments are made, including for the hardcore Triton.

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“We’d love to see Ralliart come back, but if it comes back to Australia we’d want to see it brought back in a proper way.

“We’re very cautious about the way we’ll bring Ralliart back.”

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The hesitance is born from the heritage of Ralliart and that “there is memory in the market there about what that means.”

More Ralliart details are scarce, but unconfirmed reports from Japan suggest Mitsubishi will offer Ralliart parts and accessories as well as getting back into motorsport.

In any case, it seems the Triton won’t get a high-performance hero model until the next generation arrives, expected in 2022 at the earliest. It will share underpinnings with the new Navara, and might be headlined by a production version of the Absolute concept from 2019.

The Absolute was developed by TMR (Team Mitsubishi Ralliart), a Victoria-based operation which has more than two decades of experience in Australian and international motorsport.

Technical details were kept secret when the Absolute was revealed but TMR was already tuning Tritons to make 147kW/470Nm, while also reducing turbo lag and fuel consumption. It’s not hard to then assume TMR is getting Ranger Raptor-like engine performance with a few more years of tinkering.

Other upgrades included better suspension with 50mm more ground clearance, more suspension travel, front and rear skid plates and a wider track for more off-road-ready tyres.

“Our core focus at the moment is the next-generation Triton, in terms of the product planning job and how long those things take, that’s our focus at the moment,” said Thomson.

“All I can say about next-generation Triton is we’re still very much a part of the conversation with the parent company about that vehicle, because we are an important market globally for that car.”