Toyota, Ford, Mitsubishi are not expecting electrified devices anytime soon | Rare Techy

Hybrid cars from the big three – Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi – are still some way off, as 2025 looks set to be the year the implementation of the Clean Car Standard approaches.

A recent Newsroom story claimed that Mitsubishi told the police that the hybrid diesel Triton wouldn’t be available until next year. Given that Mitsubishi is yet to announce the next generation Triton, Things contacted the local branch for confirmation.

Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand Marketing and Corporate Manager Reece Congdon said: “To be honest, I’m not sure where some of the comments in the Newsroom article are coming from. While we are working closely with our Japanese colleagues to electrify our range, I can say with absolute certainty that the PHEV Triton is not Available in 2023.

In fact, the next-generation Triton is still being kept under wraps until its debut, which is expected sometime in 2023, perhaps even as early as 2024.

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Details are scarce, but comments from Mitsubishi Australia have hinted that, unlike Ford’s latest Ranger and the upcoming Volkswagen Amarok, the new car will eschew the V6 and feature the Outlander PHEV’s plug-in hybrid powertrain. It remains to be seen whether this will continue with the petrol or diesel engine.

Given that the plug-in Triton is likely to be the top of the range (if these rumors are accurate, of course), a local launch date of around 2025 is a reasonable guess.

It is also worth mentioning that the new Triton is the basis for the next Nissan Navara.

Meanwhile, Toyota CEO Neeraj Lala has confirmed that Toyota wants to deliver fewer Hiluxes until a more sustainable alternative is available, which will also help alleviate supply issues.

“We supply customers or businesses that really need a Hilux for a specific purpose. We’ve already been successful in converting large fleet owners to move their people from diesels to hybrid SUVs.”

As late as 2021, Lala said “we have no plans to bring our own battery-electric Hilux in the next 18-24 months,” which would put Toyota’s all-electric ute around 2024 at the earliest.

This week, Toyota announced a new CO2 reduction target of at least 46% from 2019 levels, based on the science behind the 1.5C pathway of the UN Paris Agreement. The reduction will also help the company achieve its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and will be achieved through a “balanced product portfolio”.

Finally, Ford New Zealand said Things that there’s no news of an electrified Ranger in New Zealand, meaning it’s at least a few years away.

Ford has tested a plug-in hybrid Ranger for 2021, which could feature a turbocharged 2.3-litre four-cylinder petrol engine paired with a single electric motor producing 270kW and 680Nm of torque. However, we haven’t seen much on that front since then.

An all-electric model could also be in the works, which could ride on a scaled-down version of the F-150 Lightning platform. In any case, Ford has previously confirmed that its global commercial range, which includes the Ranger, will be “net-zero” by 2024.