That’s my favorite kind of pickup alright. At work, off-road and covered with grime. The dented sheet metal is a welcome finishing touch. And of course, it’s powered by a turbodiesel. All work, no play at its finest.
The driver of the 2017 Nissan Navara was wielding his chainsaw, cutting down some trees in the river forelands. The truck was parked with its right wheels against the lowest point of the levee’s riverside slope (where the grass is green).
Under its hood, a 2.3 liter inline-four with a maximum power output of 163 DIN-hp. The truck’s registered payload capacity is 935 kg (2,061 lbs), while its towing capacity is rated at 3,500 kg (7,716 lbs).
Last summer, Nissan announced they will close down their Barcelona plant (the Euro-Navaras’ production line) at the end of this year.
Spotted around 20 minutes earlier, way in the background and nearby the river, a direct competitor of the Nissan Navara.
Well that’s better. A 2018 Mitsubishi L200 pickup, coupled to a boat trailer. A fifth gen L200, unveiled in 2014.
Another turbodiesel inside, a 2.4 liter inline-four with 181 DIN-hp. A true, one-metric-ton truck, given its 1,040 kg (2,293 lbs) payload capacity.
The Mitsubishi L200 -pictured the current, updated model- is still being offered on our market, whereas the identical Fiat Fullback has gone off the list. Which simply means that there are only three L200 competitors left these days (and for the time being): the Toyota HiLux, Isuzu D-Max and Ford Ranger.
Mercedes-Benz and Renault offered their own interpretations of the Nissan Navara (the short-lived X-Class and the Alaskan, respectively), whereas Volkswagen ceased the European production of the Amarok in 2020. Not enough market demand, end of supply. Strictly business.
I saw quite a lot of the Mitsubishi pickups in Ireland in 2018 and in Poland in 2019 on vacation. I was quite impressed and apparently they have serious off road capability . As Mitsubishi’s sales of crossovers here are a trickle, not sure why they would not try to sell this truck here versus the Ford Ranger, Toyota Tacoma, etc. Couldn’t hurt.
According to Wikipedia, these trucks are built in Thailand, meaning they would be subject to the “chicken tax”.
My guess is Mitsubishi does not see the effort required to manufacture, or at the very least modify the truck to circumvent the tax (like the Turkish built Transit Connect) as being worth it.
Is having two rows of seats not enough to get around the chicken tax anymore? Considering how few single-cab pickups are sold these days, I’d think the chicken tax wouldn’t be much of a barrier.
No.
Nissan must be thinking they just can’t win – while our outgoing Frontier was fifteen years old and selling for well under the sticker price, they finally updated it, teased it, and then the last six months or so of production of the old one coincided with the start of the great chip shortage and all of a sudden they found their aged trucks selling for full sticker, at least around here and could probably pick up more share by just continuing to pump them out for another year or two or more…. The new one is apparently vastly improved, especially inside, but the old one remains attractive to me too. This one here is the same/similar as the Mexico-market one that pops up occasionally on our roads – Many people think of Mexico as a quasi third-world country (not so), largely due to the media, but in terms of vehicles they often have access to stuff we never see.
The Mitsubishi has always looked a bit odd with the rear wheel positioning relative to the cab, but I agree that if Mitsubishi wants to take it to the next level here (in general their sales have been heading up for the last decade), there is no better way to go about it than to figure out how to import or somehow market a pickup here and the 200 seems to be popular abroad with generally favorable ratings, especially seeing as how while we have much more choice than a few years ago, the whole segment is largely not exactly cutting edge. Of course every new midsize intro somehow correlates into increased sales for that entry AS WELL AS an increase in sales for the Tacoma, weird how that math works.
A couple years ago before the merger with Nissan, one of the heads of Mitsubishi NA, said the most demand from their dealers was for a Tacoma and 4runner competitor, both things they make in other countries and it was one of their top priorities. I think that the merger with Nissan may have stopped it though.
Shame because Mitsubishi has always done well with their 4wd and AWD offerings. Lots of guys love them offroad.
The third, fourth and fifth generation of the Nissan Patrol completely dominated the market segment here of the professionally used SUVs (off-road and trailer towing work, often a combination of the two).
Toyota owns that market now with the Land Cruiser 150-series (aka the Prado), as both the Nissan Patrol and Mitsubishi Pajero have left the building entirely.
Below the Land Cruiser 150-series (on the left) and the HiLux as used by our police force.
Thank you for this information on this pickup. Nissan is on the verge of bankruptcy in the US and they are the BBB (Bargain Basement Brand). Many Nissan dealers are ready to call it quits. So, they may end up pulling from the US and we’ll need to depend upon our friends in other markets to keep us up to date.
As you pointed out in an older post, Johannes, all 4 of the remaining pickups in the Dutch market are being smoked by gray-market Rams. Wonder if that’s still the case since you first posted that factoid.
Maybe Rams just stand out more, but I feel like I see many more of those on Dutch roads than any Japanese or European brand pickups.
Yes, the Rams -substantially bigger than the L200 and the like- still outsell all others, by a wide margin. But I never see them doing serious off-road work. Shiny and frequently coupled to a tandem or tridem axle trailer, that’s how they roll.
But how do those Dutch get any real work done with just a 5’ bed??!! Just kidding, I have a truck with 5’ bed myself and it can get plenty of work done. But that’s the usual refrain. Are the Ram trucks popular in the Netherlands typically bought with the “huge” 5.5’ (168 cm) bed, that’s very common in the US?
No idea about the most common bed length of the Rams.
Have a look here, a renowned and very experienced importer/specialist. They also take care of the obligatory LPG-systems:
http://www.pickuptrucks.nl/
The 5.5′ bed is the standard bed with the 1500 Crew Cabs (same with every manufacturer for that matter). The 6’4″ bed is a cheap option at RAM (adds a few hundred dollars at most) and critically allows the section 179 deduction to kick in 100% the first year instead of 50% and the rest on a normal depreciation schedule, all for those that can use it for work and thus take the tax benefit. (The rule says pickup bed needs to be 6′ minimum). That 6’4″ bed is the standard with the QuadCab (also four doors but smaller) and an 8-footer is an option there. No 8 foot on the full Crew Cab anywhere, need to go to the HDs for that.
The Nissan and L300 (or Triton) sell in good numbers here in Oz, with the Mitsubishi often around third-to-fifth on the best-selling list. That’s a legacy of the Chrysler then Mitsubishi local manufacturing til 2007, meaning it has long been an established name. They’re good units, and perhaps crucially, a good percent cheaper than the default Hilux, the nation’s best selling vehicle. Like all Mitsus I’ve ever encountered, they somehow FEEL that percentage bit cheaper than the Toyotas, and have equivalent lower resale. However, they commonly run to 200-250K miles with no drama.
Amaroks sell a few here – I seem to over-notice them according to the actual stats! – and have a name as the best of the lot to drive, but not to own: too many stories of bank-draining VwTrouble*tm. But VW being huge in Europe, with far more widespread servicing etc, I wonder why they haven’t sold much there, same rep?
As for the X-class, that must stand as one of the most spectacularly bad decisions by a big German outfit for years. They simply must have lost money on the venture, and dented brand equity. Everyone knew it wasn’t a real Merc, and then they tried (at least here) to over-price it.
Especially north-western Europe isn’t exactly known as “pickup-paradise”. It’s too much of a niche-market. Thus: exit Navara, Alaskan, X-Class, Amarok and Fullback.
I’m referring to pickups with fixed sides. Light flatbed trucks (like VW’s own Transporter) have been all over the place for decades at a stretch.
Farmers? In my neck of the woods, they rather opt for compact panel vans. VW Caddy, Peugeot Partner and such.
There will be a new Amarok in the near future, but it will be fully based on the next gen Ford Ranger.
…speaking of the Ranger, here’s the next, all new generation:
Designed and engineered by Ford Aus. Unlike the fools at GM – who had just spent millions on their longstanding and comprehensive proving ground months before closing forever – Ford have maintained a full R and D capability here.