Honda and Mitsubishi Motors are showing that their 2024 alliance with Nissan can still deliver products, one shared vehicle at a time
Honda is to launch a pickup truck in Southeast Asia in 2028 using the Mitsubishi Triton as its base, under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Mitsubishi Motors. The two automakers have never before supplied vehicles for each other’s line-ups, so the project is a first for their partnership.
The Triton is a one-tonne pickup on a ladder frame and a global strategic model for Mitsubishi Motors, with demand strongest in Southeast Asia. Honda sells no pickup in the region today, so a Triton-derived model lets it fill that gap quickly without developing a vehicle from scratch.
In return, Mitsubishi Motors gains extra volume for its plant in Thailand, helping it run closer to capacity. Both sides judged the project worthwhile for each business, although the announcement gives no detail on volumes, powertrains or how far the Honda version will differ.
The tie-up grows out of a strategic partnership framework that Honda, Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan set out in their own MoU in August 2024. Swapping vehicles between line-ups has been among the main options the three have studied, over both near-term and longer horizons, to meet regional customer needs.
The companies intend to keep deepening that partnership, drawing on each other’s products and technology. For Honda, sourcing the Triton offers a faster route into a body style it does not currently offer locally, while Mitsubishi Motors adds output from a model it already builds.
Source: Honda
