Mitsubishi and Nissan are combining forces to develop a new midsize pickup truck for North American customers, leveraging the Nissan Frontier platform. The partnership marks a strategic move by both Japanese automakers to compete in the competitive midsize truck segment without duplicating development costs.
The truck will ride on Frontier architecture, which Nissan completely redesigned for the 2022 model year. That platform introduced a new 3.8-liter V6 engine producing 310 horsepower and 281 pound-feet of torque, paired with a nine-speed automatic transmission. Nissan's Frontier proved successful with buyers seeking a capable truck that sits between compact offerings and full-size heavyweights like the F-150 and Chevy Silverado.
For Mitsubishi, this collaboration resurrects the company's pickup truck presence in North America. The automaker previously sold the Raider, a midsize truck based on Dodge Dakota architecture, until production ended in 2009. A new Mitsubishi truck could carve out market share among buyers who appreciate the brand's reputation for affordability and reliability but abandoned the segment when options disappeared.
The midsize truck category has heated up recently. Ford's Ranger returned in 2019 and gained traction with fleet and retail buyers. Chevrolet offers the Colorado, and Toyota's Tacoma remains the segment leader. GM's new Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon next generation will target this space aggressively.
This Nissan-Mitsubishi partnership reflects broader industry trends of badge engineering and platform sharing. Both companies operate under the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, making development collaboration logical. By spreading engineering costs across two brands, both manufacturers can offer competitive pricing while maintaining profit margins under pressure from EV development expenses.