Nissan And Mitsubishi co-develop Pickups

Following Nissan's recent acquisition of a 34 per cent stake in Mitsubishi, the companies could co-developed pickup trucks together it has been revealed.

While speaking with Car Advice during an international conference call, Nissan co-CEO Hiroto Saikawa said a new platform developed by the two companies could underpin future pickup models.

“Many companies face the challenge of ageing models. It happened to Nissan, it happened to Mitsubishi. I cannot give you full assessment of Mitsubishi right now. [But] I can tell you that, we will see this in two way benefit.

“Segments of joint platform development could include pick-up trucks in the ASEAN market where MMC has particular expertise,” he said.

What this means is that the next-generation Nissan Navara and Toyota Triton (L200 in some markets) could share the same architecture, helping to cut development costs of both and potentially aiding Renault and Mercedes-Benz in their future Navara-based pickups.

Alongside the potential of collaborating on pickups, the strategic partnership could see the Mitsubishi Lancer outfitted with the CMF platform currently used by the Nissan Qashqai, Nissan Pulsar and Renault Megane.