Fiat ute will be a rebaged Mitsubishi Triton

Fiat's upcoming one-tonne ute will be a lightly modified version of Mitsubishi's latest Triton and built alongside it in Thailand, confirmed the Japanese car-maker's president and COO Tetsuro Aikawa in Tokyo today.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation jointly announced in September 2014 that the companies “have signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning the possibility to develop and manufacture a mid-size pick-up truck, supplied by Mitsubishi and based on the next generation of L200?, which is sold in Australia as the Triton.

Earlier last year reports from Europe said Fiat would bring to market an L200-based pick-up to European and Latin American showrooms, following the Fiat Chrysler five-year plan unveiled in May 2014, which listed a ute for Latin America in the second-half of 2015.

Mitsubishi already supplies Chrysler with a small passenger car based on the Mirage and built in Mexico for North America, but Aikawa said that arrangement will be joined by a 'badge-engineered' Triton ute.

"We are not only providing Mirage to Fiat Chrysler, but from next year the L200 [Triton] pick-up truck," he said.

Akaiwa made it clear that Fiat's mid-size pick-up will be a badge-engineered version of the fifth-generation Triton released Down Under in April.

"Contract-wise I can't give the details, but basically it's the same vehicle," he said, adding that differences will extend only to elements like bumpers and badges, and that it will be produced alongside the Triton in Thailand.

Fiat's Triton-based ute should not be confused with the recently revealed Fiat Toro (pictured), which is believed to be based on Jeep's compact Renegade SUV and will be launched early next year initially only in South America, but could lead to a Jeep-badged one-tonne ute under consideration alongside a Wrangler-based pick-up.

Either way, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Australia is on record as saying that neither the unnamed Triton-based Fiat ute nor the car-based Toro compact ute are a chance to be sold here, despite the fact Australia is one of the world's top five mid-size pick-up markets and where new Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Nissan Navara and Triton models were released this year.

The Japanese-American joint-venture ute project would follow similar plans announced by by Mercedes-Benz and Renault, which will both release their first one-tonners based on the Navara in coming years – badged as the Alaskan and GLT respectively.

More so than Isuzu's D-MAX and Holden's Colorado -- which are based on a common platform but powered by different engines, wear different sheet metal and are built in separate factories in Thailand -- the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 are virtually identical and produced in the same factory.

However, this arrangement is expected to end with the current generation, and Mazda is believed to be in discussions with a number of other manufacturers – including Toyota – to produce a replacement for its current BT-50.