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Mitsubishi wants a compact pickup for the U.S. market, but won't rush it

A Mitsubishi dealer told Wards Auto last year that "the most requested model at the brand's U.S. dealer meetings is 'a pickup truck, a pickup truck, a pickup truck.'" This month, Mitsubishi North America's COO told Wards that the carmaker has its eye on getting back to the compact pickup segment in the U.S., but that it will take time. "[We'd] have to have one that's the right fit for Mitsubishi," he said, "for our demographic, and something that's really competitive in the market." That wasn't the case with the last compact pickup the brand sold here, the Raider. A product of the Daimler-Chrysler alliance with Mitsubishi at the time, the Raider was a rebadged Dodge Dakota. The pickup sputtered through four years of meager sales, being pulled from the market in 2009. As part of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Mitsubishi's been put in charge of the group's next midsize body-on-frame platform, Automotive News reports. The chassis will underpin the next-gen Mitsubishi Triton (2019 model pictured), Nissan Navara and Renault Alaskan, and if Daimler continues the tie-up with Renault, the next Mercedes X-Class. It sounds like Mitsubishi has already made room for electrification, the COO telling Wards, "you start mixing in some of that electrification technology and these hybrid drivetrains, the aspect of performance is really going to change in the future." The carmaker does very well with its compact Triton pickup, sold in 150 overseas markets under that name as well as L200 and Strada. Wards says LMC Automotive predicts a Triton will come to the U.S. as a 2025 model, but we can't know how similar our model would be to the international model. Our Nissan Frontier, for instance, is not the same as the Frontier sold overseas, the global truck also known as the Navara and NP300. The five-year wait shows Mitsubishi won't be reckless with any new launch now that it has a vision and momentum to protect. The Japanese carmaker has posted sales gains in the U.S. for six straight years. The last two years surpassed 100,000 units, 2018 delivering a 14 percent jump over 2017 in spite of Mitsubishi having just four models on sale here.

2022 Mitsubishi Outlander gets IIHS top rating with improved lights

The current sticking point for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's (IIHS) highest honors, the Top Safety Pick+, is headlights. The 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander, despite having strong results in almost every category, missed out on any Top Safety Pick rating because of lights rated "Poor" on all models. But Mitsubishi has now fixed them, getting the crossover the coveted award. The rating applies to Outlanders built after June 2021. The LED reflector headlights now have the top "Good" rating on all trim levels because of reduced glare for oncoming drivers. There's also some additional good news for existing owners of Outlanders. They can go to their Mitsubishi dealer, where the existing headlights will have the aim adjusted to reduce glare. The Outlander already had excellent results in crash testing and crash prevention. Every crash test yielded a "Good" rating, and in both vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pedestrian crash prevention it got the top "Superior" rating. Even the child seat LATCH anchor access is rated "Good." The Outlander joins the ranks of a number of other small crossovers with the Top Safety Pick+ award, including its platform-mate the Nissan Rogue. Other winners include the Ford Bronco Sport, Hyundai Tucson, Mazda CX-3, Mazda CX-30, Mazda CX-5, Subaru Forester and Volvo XC40. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mitsubishi struggling to sell doomed plant due to union workers

Mitsubishi is about to end vehicle production in the US, but the company is having serious problems finding a buyer for its Normal, IL, factory that currently assembles the Outlander Sport. A major sticking point, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, is the plant's workforce of over 900 United Auto Workers members. The automaker has been trying to find another company to take over the site for months and has set November as the point to stop manufacturing there. The Normal, IL, factory is unique because it's the only plant in the country that's run by a Japanese automaker with a UAW-represented workforce, after starting as a joint venture with Chrysler. That makes Ford, General Motors, and FCA the preferred buyers because they could conceivably take over the union contract. However, the Blue Oval and the General likely aren't interested. According to plant officials speaking to The Wall Street Journal, FCA and some unnamed car companies are potential buyers, but there's absolutely nothing final, yet. Proponents argue that buying the location is cheaper than building a new one. Making matters harder is that the UAW and Mitsubishi are currently negotiating a new union contract, and the factory's next owner might have to take over the deal, according to the WSJ. The workers were ready to vote whether to strike recently, but that was averted when an announcement on the local's webpage said a tentative agreement was expected Sunday. Of course, the Big Three have been experiencing their own, similar issues with crafting deals, too. Related Video: