Mitsubishi to bring back Ralliart brand with new tough Triton

Aussies love their tough trucks, and now the Japanese brand is preparing to build a potentially rally-inspired workhorse.

Mitsubishi is bringing back its Ralliart brand.

Mitsubishi is joining the tough ute craze.

The Japanese brand has revealed its bringing back the Ralliart performance brand and a hardcore Triton is in the works. The Triton is popular with Aussie shoppers as it is one of the best selling utes in the country.

Mitsubishi quietly revealed the resurgence of the Ralliart brand during the announcement of its financial results earlier this week.

The company hasn’t revealed any information, but it made the announcement alongside a picture of a Ralliart-inspired Triton ute.

The Ford Ranger Raptor has been a wild success in Australia.

The hot ute is shown with chunky styling and plenty of red and black highlights to toughen up its image.

Mitsubishi is likely to draw on its long rallying history to produce the tough truck.

Most dual-cab ute makers are investing heavily in hardcore workhorses; vehicles such as the Ford Ranger Raptor and Toyota HiLux Rugged X both sell strongly. Mitsubishi is one of the few major ute makers that doesn’t offer a tougher version.

These dual-cab utes come with beefed up off-road performance, macho looks and an inflated price tag to match.

Ford’s Rugged X is plenty capable off-road.

The Ranger Raptor will set back buyers about $85,000 drive-away and comes with heavy-duty off-road Fox shocks and suspension, off-road driving modes, all terrain tyres and other adventure-focused elements.

But it isn’t a performance focused ute, with power coming from a small 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel engine making 157kW and 500Nm.

Mitsubishi doesn’t currently offer a tough Triton.

An all-new version due next year is rumoured to come with a twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine making 298kW and 563Nm.

Volkswagen has gone the other way and teamed up with legendary Australian tuning house Walkinshaw, famous for producing fast Commodores, to produce the most powerful dual-cab ute in its class.

The Amarok W580 has a more road-going bias and uses a burly V6 turbodiesel engine that makes 200kW and a hefty 580Nm.

Volkswagen’s Amarok W580S is the most powerful ute in its class.

It also comes with performance and styling upgrades such a side exhaust pipes, under body styling, and a tray-mounted sail plane inspired by the discontinued HSV Maloo ute

Mitsubishi also announced it would launch a range of Ralliart parts.

Originally published as Mitsubishi to bring back Ralliart brand with new tough Triton