/ News

Report: The next-gen Mitsubishi Strada could come with a plug-in hybrid powertrain

The midsize pickup truck could reportedly adopt technology from the Outlander PHEV.

Autodeal on Aug 17, 2022

Electrified pickup trucks have been popping up left and right over the past several years. The Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and even the yet-to-be released Tesla Cybertruck are all proof of this. That said, hybrid pickups have not penetrated the global market as much as their all-electric counterparts have.

That could change soon as Mitsubishi is reportedly considering bringing plug-in hybrid technology from the Outlander PHEV into the 2024 Strada. That’s right, at least one variant of the next-gen midsize pickup truck could come with a hybrid powertrain.

Mitsubishi is still apparently studying which approach would work best for a pickup truck of this size. We have to remember that an electric motor and battery pack would give the Strada a significant weight addition, and this change could affect the vehicle’s handling, pulling power, and load capacity.

One proposed solution would be modifying the Outlander’s PHEV system to make it a conventional hybrid. This change would involve using a smaller battery to minimize additional weight. In any case, the Japanese automaker appears confident it can do the job.

There are so many technologies, hybrid technologies, and our concept is basically based on a PHEV system, we can modify it to become hybrid, so it’s very much different from, for example, Toyota or other European brands.

Kentaro Honda
Chief Engineer, Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV

After all, it has taken a leadership role in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s plug-in hybrid plans. If Mitsubishi finds a viable PHEV solution for the Strada, it’s reasonable to expect that it eventually makes it to the Nissan Navara.

The addition of a PHEV powertrain option for the Strada could help the midsize pickup truck stay competitive in an increasingly electrified market. It could also work particularly well for the Philippines, where hybrids and all-electric vehicles alike are sorely lacking.

We’ll find out more about plans for a Mitsubishi Strada PHEV as the next-generation model ships out within the next couple of years. In the meantime, the regular diesel-powered Strada remains available in the Philippines, available starting at P825,000 for the workhorse model.