Mitsubishi Ralliart Triton set to revive performance moniker

Mitsubishi has quietly announced that it’s reviving its iconic Ralliart performance brand for the first time in 11 years.

The news came from the Japanese firm’s 2020/21 financial year report, and although nothing is concrete yet, it appears the rebooted performance arm’s first product will be a hotted-up version of the Triton.

How hotted up? That’s up for debate, but judging from a teaser image released by the automaker, it appears the sideways Triton could be a lightly breathed on, mostly cosmetic upgrade made to compete against the likes of other utes like Ford’s Ranger Wildtrak.

Weirdly though, the teaser image does show the Ralliart Triton sitting a fair bit lower than the standard variant of the work ute, which goes against the grain of other brands in the segment which have leaned into a tougher off-road specification.

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Mitsubishi also announced that it would be creating a bespoke line of Ralliart parts, which will likely be a set of additional cosmetic upgrades for those wanting to inject their car with an extra hit of testosterone.

Speaking about the performance brand’s reintroduction, Mitsubishi CEO Takao Kato explained that Ralliart was being brought back for fans of the brand.

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The Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution competing at the 1999 running of the Dakar Rally

The CEO also said Mitsubishi would be returning to the world of motorsport under the long-dormant Ralliart name.

“For customers who wish to experience our Mitsubishi-ness, we will launch custom-made accessories for our model line-up as well as re-entering motorsport events around the world.”

It’s unclear at this stage what motorsport events the Tokyo outfit will be entering, but a return to the Dakar Rally is definitely on the cards – given Ralliart’s last effort, the Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution, is the most winning car ever entered in the gruelling event.

And obviously, given the company is already entered in it, a Ralliart Triton on the grid of the Haltech V8 SuperUte Series seems like a no-brainer.

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When could we see a return of the Ralliart brand to Aussie shores? Well, that remains unclear. WhichCar has reached out to Mitsubishi Australia for comment.

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