All-electric off-roaders were all the rage just a year or so ago, but now demand has tapered off.
Mitsubishi was caught up in this craze around when it revealed its current, sixth-generation Triton ute in 2023 as it claimed it was developing an electric version.
Mitsubishi Engineering Fellow Kaoru Sawase told CarsGuide the Japanese carmaker is still looking to make an electrified version of the Triton, but it’ll now more likely have a hybrid powertrain.
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“Of course there’s a need to reduce CO2 emissions,” said Sawase-san.
“So along with the flow of the times, there is a need to develop Triton HEV, so we are working on that.”
“So first we have to work on hybrid, not the way of plug-in hybrid.
“In the past, we have announced to launch the battery electric vehicle [BEV] Triton. But now the reaction has shifted a little bit.
“We are now trying to quickly launch the electrified vehicle.”
At this stage no further details on this hybrid powertrain for the Triton have been announced.
It's unclear whether it'll having a petrol or diesel engine to go along with the electric motor.
This move to shelve the electric version of the Triton and then prioritise a hybrid version that’s not a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) is interesting because Mitsubishi has long prided itself of being a pioneer of this powertrain technology.
It has offered PHEV powertrains since 2013 with the Outlander PHEV, which was claimed to be the first ever series-production PHEV SUV.
Mitsubishi isn’t the only carmaker to be ditching plans to do an electric version of its ute.
Volkswagen had previously announced plans to develop an electric Amarok and launch it by 2026, which is based on the same platform as the popular Ford Ranger.
It now claims there isn’t anything in the plans for a battery-powered Amarok ute.
There are currently only two electric dual-cab utes in Australia, the poorly received LDV eT60, as well as the newly launched KGM Musso EV.
Over the next few years though Toyota is set to launch an electric version of the HiLux and Isuzu is set to launch an electric version of the D-Max.
