By: Jason Woosey
If the current Mitsubishi Triton is too curvy in your book, you'll be pleased to see that Mitsubishi has toned it down a notch or two with the all-new version.
The first fully-redesigned Triton in nine years has just been launched in Thailand and our local contact says it should reach South African shores by the second or third quarter of 2015 if all goes well.
The new Triton’s design, complete with a prominent side crease of the kind you'd normally expect on a car, is still rather sporty by bakkie standards and Mitsubishi says the styling intends to “evoke the form of a well-honed athlete.” You be the judge of that.
As clichéd as this might sound by now, Mitsubishi claims that its new beast is on par with a passenger car when it comes to ride comfort and quietness. We just hope that the car being referred to is not the Mirage.
Contributing to the quietness is an all-new 2.4-litre Mivec 3 turbodiesel engine. Rated at 133kW and 430Nm, it's slightly more powerful than the current 2.5-litre turbodiesel motor that will still live on, presumably in its lower states of tune, along with an improved version of the 2.4-litre petrol motor.
As before the new Triton will be available in single cab, double cab and cab-and-a-half body configurations.
But does it have the stuff to make any inroads in the Ford Ranger/Toyota Hilux battle? Time will tell.