Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) in Japan announced the anniversary of Mitsubishi 4×4 pick-up trucks, providing reliability and durability to customers worldwide for 40 years!
It’s 1978, and the world is changing. Space Invaders spreads to arcades across the globe and launches the video game industry. The first automated cellular phone network is being built in Japan and Superman takes off in cinemas.
Another product is launched which, over the next four decades, will bring mobility to 4.7 million people – the Mitsubishi 1-ton pickup.
The first models were appropriately named Forte (see main photo), although exports used other badges such as L200, which remain in use today. From the very beginning, the Forte was engineered to provide tough, dependable transport for people and goods.
To ensure customers could go even further afield, Mitsubishi Motors built on its four-wheel-drive heritage by adding a 4×4 version to the range in 1980. This became the foundation for modern Mitsubishi 4WD vehicles, leading directly to the Pajero/Montero and Delica.
The pickup, soon renamed Triton in many markets, had a profound effect on the Mitsubishi Motors’ business too. The first and second generation platforms were mainly produced at Mitsubishi Motors Ohe Plant. Since the third generation model in 1995, production has been concentrated in the Laem Chabang Plant in Thailand, from where they are exported worldwide. It is now Mitsubishi Motors’ biggest factory, producing about 400,000 vehicles.
In Malaysia, the first Mitsubishi pick-up truck, Mitsubishi Storm was launched in 2001 by its official distributor at that time, United Straits Fuso Sdn Bhd (USF).
Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) was established in January 2005 and the Mitsubishi Triton was launched in 2006. Today, MMM has sold more than 70,000 units nationwide, with an average sale of 500 units per month.
The Triton is the best-selling model for Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) with the fifth generation of the Triton currently on sale.
Over the years, the Triton have also won numerous awards including the DSF.my and Allianz- Vehicle of the Year 2017.
