Following a 10-year absence, Mitsubishi will return to the pickup market next year with a 2006 model based on the new Dodge Dakota platform. The announcement was made at the 2004 Detroit auto show when Mitsubishi unveiled its Sport Truck Concept, a bold urban-assault vehicle that obviously had few intentions of hauling bricks (check out our Detroit coverage).
Mitsubishi concedes that the Big 3 truck makers dominate the industrial and work truck market. The company’s partner, Dodge, has the fullsize Ram and midsize Dakota, each with impressive credentials in horsepower, torque, towing capacity and payload within their respective categories. In fact, the Dakota pretty much sealed the coffin on the previous Mitsubishi pickup.
Remember the Mighty Max? Remember the Macrocab? Mitsubishi had a thriving, value-driven lineup of compact pickups for the US market, starting in the late ‘70s. The company also made versions for Dodge and Plymouth called the Ram 50 and Arrow, respectively. Choices included two- or four-wheel-drive, regular or extended cab, 4- or 6-cylinder engines. But when the Dakota was introduced as a 1987 model, there was less emphasis on the Mitsubishi compact truck platform.
The Arrow was last seen in 1982 as Plymouth tried to rebadge the front-wheel-drive Dodge Rampage as the Scamp the following year. The Ram 50 was discontinued in 1994, the same year Dodge came out with its all-new T300 fullsize truck platform. Then Mitsubishi stopped offering the Mighty Max for sale in the US following the 1995 model year, although the truck is still produced for other countries, even as a crew-cab model.
Although the next Mitsubishi will be based on 2005 Dakota chassis, Mitsubishi designers took a clean-sheet approach when sketching the Sport Truck Concept.
"What would be right for our brand?” Rich Plavetich, one of the design leaders asked of his team. “Try and forecast where we’re going with truck.”
The Sport Truck Concept received mostly positive reviews following its debut in Detroit over the winter. There were enough innovations to draw interest and a solid vision of what is possible on a production line. There was a body that inspired passion and a restrained engineering team that kept the truck focused on the intended market.
“We were trying to do a truck that’s more of a lifestyle truck,” says Plavetich. “It still had to have durability. On the other hand, it had to have more of a sense of style and fashion, and it needed to be more athletic.”
In early May, the press was invited the crawl around its concept truck and cruise around a closed course within a regional park in the Los Angeles area. The concept was built on a 2004 Dakota platform, so there were hardly any surprises. The rear suspension on the concept is an independent setup pulled from a new Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV, but at 15mph there was no noticeable increase in handling prowess or ride comfort.
The production vehicle will have more of a conventional rear end,” says Plavetich. “But we see in the future pickup trucks getting more sophisticated suspensions.”
The 2005 Dakota will come out a year earlier than the Mitsu pickup but both will be built in Warren, Michigan. Based on the production model shown at the 2004 Chicago Auto Show, the new Dakota will offer three engines—including a 4.7-liter V8 with more than 250 horsepower—and seven inches wider than the current Chevy Colorado.
“Our truck will be big and massive in a different way,” explains exterior designer Gary Ragle about the imposing front end. “We’ll have a snarling, sports car look. This truck needs to breath, meaning it has lots of horsepower.”
Besides adding brawn to the front end, the wide cross bars act as dual bumpers. The top one fends off larger vehicles while the lower one mates up better with small cars should be there be a collision.
The more exciting design exercises won’t carry over to the production model. Mitsu will offer various trims and cab configurations, just like a normal pickup line. We’re not even sure the integrated bed style is going to reach production.
“From a design them standpoint, there’ll be a lot of similarities,” says Plavetich. “From a construction standpoint, the El Camino thing won’t be there.”
So maybe we can expect the racing helmet-inspired wrap-around windshield, but the multi-functional, electronically operated tailgate won’t. This tailgate has four positions:
Up and closed as normal
Semi-retracted that is shorter to reduce lift-over height and offer more convenient storage of long items such as surfboards
Open in the traditional manner to increase bed-floor length
Fully retracted under the bed for open access to the cargo area
Even neater is the rear seat. In the normal position, the rear seat is integrated with the rear bulkhead and there is a flip-down window from the roof to seal the cabin. Open the window and the seat can be flipped back into the bed as an open-air jump seat. The rear window then becomes an annoying but effective windshield for the rear passengers who now have considerably more legroom.
“It’s almost like a loft apartment in there with contemporary lines and plenty of living space,” says Plavetich of the interior.
Other innovations unlikely to make production include:
A rope LED lighting system that circles the headliner and can change colors to match the mood of the passengers
Transparent side mirror housings
Unique headlamps and taillamps
Floating dash
22-inch wheels
Paddle shifter on the steering column
But Mitsubishi is going to bring a different attitude to pickup trucks. This walkaround and drive session was meant to tease journalists and stimulate interest in a personal pickup that will have a solid truck foundation. This won’t be a hacked-up SUV.
And the best news is that Mitsubishi is going through with the project. Just days before we played with the truck, DaimlerChrysler officials announced the company would cease financial support of Mitsubishi. DaimlerChrysler has a 37% stake in Mitsubishi and owns all of the Chrysler Group, which has numerous joint developments in the works with Mitsubishi. But a Mitsubishi spokesperson at the Sport Truck Concept gathering said that the pickup project is “well on its way and everything is moving forward.”
Following a 10-year absence, Mitsubishi will return to the pickup market next year with a 2006 model based on the new Dodge Dakota platform. The announcement was made at the 2004 Detroit auto show when Mitsubishi unveiled its Sport Truck Concept, a bold urban-assault vehicle that obviously had few intentions of hauling bricks (check out our Detroit coverage).
Mitsubishi concedes that the Big 3 truck makers dominate the industrial and work truck market. The company’s partner, Dodge, has the fullsize Ram and midsize Dakota, each with impressive credentials in horsepower, torque, towing capacity and payload within their respective categories. In fact, the Dakota pretty much sealed the coffin on the previous Mitsubishi pickup.
Remember the Mighty Max? Remember the Macrocab? Mitsubishi had a thriving, value-driven lineup of compact pickups for the US market, starting in the late ‘70s. The company also made versions for Dodge and Plymouth called the Ram 50 and Arrow, respectively. Choices included two- or four-wheel-drive, regular or extended cab, 4- or 6-cylinder engines. But when the Dakota was introduced as a 1987 model, there was less emphasis on the Mitsubishi compact truck platform.
The Arrow was last seen in 1982 as Plymouth tried to rebadge the front-wheel-drive Dodge Rampage as the Scamp the following year. The Ram 50 was discontinued in 1994, the same year Dodge came out with its all-new T300 fullsize truck platform. Then Mitsubishi stopped offering the Mighty Max for sale in the US following the 1995 model year, although the truck is still produced for other countries, even as a crew-cab model.
Although the next Mitsubishi will be based on 2005 Dakota chassis, Mitsubishi designers took a clean-sheet approach when sketching the Sport Truck Concept.
"What would be right for our brand?” Rich Plavetich, one of the design leaders asked of his team. “Try and forecast where we’re going with truck.”
The Sport Truck Concept received mostly positive reviews following its debut in Detroit over the winter. There were enough innovations to draw interest and a solid vision of what is possible on a production line. There was a body that inspired passion and a restrained engineering team that kept the truck focused on the intended market.
“We were trying to do a truck that’s more of a lifestyle truck,” says Plavetich. “It still had to have durability. On the other hand, it had to have more of a sense of style and fashion, and it needed to be more athletic.”
In early May, the press was invited the crawl around its concept truck and cruise around a closed course within a regional park in the Los Angeles area. The concept was built on a 2004 Dakota platform, so there were hardly any surprises. The rear suspension on the concept is an independent setup pulled from a new Mitsubishi Endeavor SUV, but at 15mph there was no noticeable increase in handling prowess or ride comfort.
The production vehicle will have more of a conventional rear end,” says Plavetich. “But we see in the future pickup trucks getting more sophisticated suspensions.”
The 2005 Dakota will come out a year earlier than the Mitsu pickup but both will be built in Warren, Michigan. Based on the production model shown at the 2004 Chicago Auto Show, the new Dakota will offer three engines—including a 4.7-liter V8 with more than 250 horsepower—and seven inches wider than the current Chevy Colorado.
“Our truck will be big and massive in a different way,” explains exterior designer Gary Ragle about the imposing front end. “We’ll have a snarling, sports car look. This truck needs to breath, meaning it has lots of horsepower.”
Besides adding brawn to the front end, the wide cross bars act as dual bumpers. The top one fends off larger vehicles while the lower one mates up better with small cars should be there be a collision.
The more exciting design exercises won’t carry over to the production model. Mitsu will offer various trims and cab configurations, just like a normal pickup line. We’re not even sure the integrated bed style is going to reach production.
“From a design them standpoint, there’ll be a lot of similarities,” says Plavetich. “From a construction standpoint, the El Camino thing won’t be there.”
So maybe we can expect the racing helmet-inspired wrap-around windshield, but the multi-functional, electronically operated tailgate won’t. This tailgate has four positions:
Up and closed as normal
Semi-retracted that is shorter to reduce lift-over height and offer more convenient storage of long items such as surfboards
Open in the traditional manner to increase bed-floor length
Fully retracted under the bed for open access to the cargo area
Even neater is the rear seat. In the normal position, the rear seat is integrated with the rear bulkhead and there is a flip-down window from the roof to seal the cabin. Open the window and the seat can be flipped back into the bed as an open-air jump seat. The rear window then becomes an annoying but effective windshield for the rear passengers who now have considerably more legroom.
“It’s almost like a loft apartment in there with contemporary lines and plenty of living space,” says Plavetich of the interior.
Other innovations unlikely to make production include:
A rope LED lighting system that circles the headliner and can change colors to match the mood of the passengers
Transparent side mirror housings
Unique headlamps and taillamps
Floating dash
22-inch wheels
Paddle shifter on the steering column
But Mitsubishi is going to bring a different attitude to pickup trucks. This walkaround and drive session was meant to tease journalists and stimulate interest in a personal pickup that will have a solid truck foundation. This won’t be a hacked-up SUV.
And the best news is that Mitsubishi is going through with the project. Just days before we played with the truck, DaimlerChrysler officials announced the company would cease financial support of Mitsubishi. DaimlerChrysler has a 37% stake in Mitsubishi and owns all of the Chrysler Group, which has numerous joint developments in the works with Mitsubishi. But a Mitsubishi spokesperson at the Sport Truck Concept gathering said that the pickup project is “well on its way and everything is moving forward.”
i gotta say this isnt really a truck, bigger version of the subaru brat. its really modern and swoopy. but that front grille......ooooooohhhh ,the outside concept of it has a beginning. but a big portion of the inside of the grille , well its empty. long as they dont put a big m in there, to fill it in. had heard this vehicle will have the 4.7 hey it otta scoot!!!
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First Drive: Mitsubishi Sport Truck Concept (Dakota platform)
Posted: 05-06-04 17:14 PT
mitzo truck
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