Australian development integral to new Mitsubishi Triton ute – Drive

The new Mitsubishi Triton has undergone extensive development and testing by Australian engineers ahead of its local launch.
Australia has played a role in the development of the 2024 Mitsubishi Triton ute, due in local showrooms in February next year after production begins in Thailand next month.
Mitsubishi is the latest car maker to use Australia as a key testing ground since ending local manufacturing 15 years ago – following Toyota, Ford, Kia and a number of other top brands.
Engineers in Australia have collaborated with their counterparts in Japan and Thailand – and work has been conducted on the new ute locally, including at the Lang Lang, Victoria proving ground formerly owned by Holden, and used to develop Commodores and Colorado utes.
Included in the Australian development was the suspension and steering tuning, and the vehicle’s drive modes. Engineers reportedly tested over 100 configurations of front and rear suspension as part of the program.
New Mitsubishi Triton utes sold in Australia and New Zealand are due to receive unique steering and suspension calibrated to local road conditions. The company claims engineers “targeted a similar driving experience to a good SUV.”
Australian-market cars will use unique front dampers and spring combinations as well as unique rear shock absorbers. Much of the local development of the electric power steering system is said to flow onto models sold overseas.
In a media statement, Mitsubishi Australia Project Manager Tony Dorrington – a 20-year veteran of the company who worked on the suspension and steering tune of the 2005 Mitsubishi 380, the car maker’s last Australian-built model – said: “In the last five years, customers expect their ute to do the family duties and the weekend activities, as well as working and towing.
“We’ve improved all dynamic elements of the vehicle to ensure new-gen Triton’s performance is a match for Australia’s tough conditions and customer expectations.”
The Australian development used a mixture of public roads as well as the old Holden Proving Ground at Lang Lang in Victoria, now owned by Vietnamese car company VinFast.
“There were several focus points for Triton. [The] most important was steering feel. We drive long distances and having steering that offers a clearly defined centre-point, to provide directional stability, makes the vehicle less tiring to drive.”
“Having access to somewhere like Lang Lang accelerates the process immensely,” said Dorrington. “We could evaluate changes on multiple road conditions back-to-back to set accurate benchmarks.”
The 2024 Mitsubishi Triton is due to enter production for Australia later this month.
Director of Content
James has been part of the digital publishing landscape in Australia since 2002 and has worked within the automotive industry since 2007. He joined CarAdvice in 2013, left in 2017 to work with BMW and then returned at the end of 2019 to spearhead the content direction of Drive.
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Copyright Drive.com.au 2023ABN: 84 116 608 158
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