Honda ute confirmed – and it’s a Mitsubishi Triton in disguise

Honda is getting into the one-tonne ute game and it’s doing it the quick way – by borrowing one. The Japanese giant has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Mitsubishi Motors to develop a Honda-badged ute based on the Mitsubishi Triton.

The new model is due in showrooms across the ASEAN region in 2028 – which means countries like Thailand and Australia – and it marks the first time the two Japanese car-makers have supplied product to each other.

Let’s be clear about what’s on the menu here. The Triton is a properly tough, ladder-frame workhorse, powered locally by a bi-turbo 2.4-litre four-cylinder diesel making 150kW and 470Nm, and recently treated to revised springs and dampers across the range, with the flagship GSR scoring Yamaha performance dampers.

In a press statement, Honda stated the Triton is “one of Mitsubishi Motors’ global strategic models that is in high demand, particularly in the ASEAN region”, and the deal lets Honda plug a gaping hole in its line-up.

“Through this collaboration, Honda will add a pickup truck model to its line-up primarily in the ASEAN market, where it does not currently offer pickup truck models, enabling Honda to enhance its product line-up quickly and efficiently in the market,” the joint statement reads.

Is this move partly to create a bulwark against the influx of Chinese utes in the region? It’s highly likely.

Given that Mitsubishi is working on an electrified ute for 2030 to rival the BYD Shark 6 and other PHEV utes, this could also help Honda.

Mitsubishi, meanwhile, gets more volume through its Thai factory. The arrangement “will enable Mitsubishi Motors to increase production volume and improve capacity utilisation at its production plant in Thailand”, the companies said in a joint statement.

Given a 2028 launch, don’t expect Honda to reinvent the wheel.

A new grille, bumpers, lights and badges are the likely extent of the makeover – much like Nissan’s Triton-based Navara, which wears its own face over Mitsubishi bones.

It’s not Honda’s first rodeo with rebadging, either.

In the 1990s it sold the Isuzu Rodeo as the Honda Passport in the US, the Isuzu Trooper (our Holden Jackaroo) as the Honda Horizon in Japan, and even Land Rover’s Discovery as the Honda Crossroad.

Honda’s only current ute, the US-market Ridgeline, is a different beast altogether – essentially a monocoque or unibody SUV with a tray grafted on the back. Comfy, clever, but not the sort of thing you’d trust with a one tonne payload or a big braked trailer.

While the news will raise eyebrows in the ASEAN and Oceania regions, don’t hold your breath for a Honda Triton in the States.

The so-called ‘Chicken Tax’ – a 25 per cent tariff on imported light trucks – makes a Thai-built ute a non-starter, and Honda already has the Ridgeline in that market. Instead, Nissan and Mitsubishi are expected to begin working together on a Frontier-based pick-up for the US late in the decade.

The deal stems from the strategic partnership Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi signed on August 1, 2024, which survived the collapse of the Honda-Nissan merger talks in February 2025.

The companies say exploring “complementary supply of each other’s vehicles” is a key plank, so this could be the first of several swaps – and it’s a two-way street, meaning a Honda-sourced Mitsubishi isn’t out of the question.

Could the Mitsubishi FTO return as a rebadged Honda Prelude? We can only hope.

As for Australia? A Honda ute Down Under remains firmly in the ‘wait and see’ basket following an official statement from the brand:

Honda Motor and Mitsubishi Motors have announced development of a pickup truck based on the Mitsubishi Triton for sale in ASEAN markets in 2028. We are not able to confirm if this model will be offered in Australia when it goes on sale.

More as we get it.

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