Honda to enter ute market with rebadged Mitsubishi Triton

Honda has confirmed it is working on a new Mitsubishi Triton-based ute it will sell in Asia.

The two automakers signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday night, with Mitsubishi to supply Honda with utes out of its factory in Laem Chabang, Thailand.

No word yet on the name of Honda's new ute, but the company has confirmed it will go on sale across the ASEAN region in 2028.

At the time of writing, there are 11 full members of the regional grouping: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.

It's unclear if other markets will receive the Honda-ified Triton, but a Yomiuri Shimbun report earlier this month indicated the automaker is giving it some consideration.

Given the tight timeframe, it's likely the Honda ute won't differ too much from the Triton. Changes will probably be limited to a new grille and bumpers, revised badging, and, maybe, new headlights and tail-lights.

Nissan, which currently owns around 24 per cent of Mitsubishi Motors, launched a new Triton-based Navara earlier this year. Visually the two are distinguished by unique front fascias, headlights and tail-lights.

According to Honda, this arrangement allows the automaker to "enhance its product lineup quickly and efficiently", while also allowing Mitsubishi to "increase production volume and improve capacity utilisation" at its Laem Chabang plant.

There's no word yet on how many Triton-based utes Honda is looking to sell.

This model-sharing deal between Honda and Mitsubishi is the first time the two automakers have worked together in such a manner, but it's not the first time Honda has rebadged body-on-frame vehicles from other manufacturers.

In the 1990s, the company's US arm sold the Indiana-built Isuzu Rodeo (aka Holden Frontera) as the Honda Passport. The contemporary Isuzu Trooper wore many names around the world, and while it was sold in Australia as the Holden Jackaroo, it was also the Honda Horizon in Japan and the Acura SLX in the States.

Around the same time, Land Rover supplied the first-generation Discovery to Honda's dealers in Japan where the SUV was sold as the Crossroad.

Today's announcement springs from the failed merger between Honda and Nissan, which was announced in late December 2024 and officially called off in February 2025, with Nissan blaming Honda for changing the terms of the deal from a marriage of equals to a takeover.

Despite this, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi agreed to keep on discussing areas of collaboration. Nissan is the largest single shareholder in Mitsubishi Motors, and once had a controlling 34 per cent stake in the firm.

At the beginning of September, Honda and Nissan announced they will work together on core electronic control units (ECUs) and software for a new Electrical/Electronic (E/E) architecture that will underpin their next-generation software-defined vehicles (SDVs), the first of which will appear around 2030.

Earlier reports indicated the two car makers are considering working together on models for the North American market, likely larger vehicles that would be mainly sold in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Middle East. 

It has also been suggested Nissan will also supply Honda with a version of the Frontier pickup truck. Mitsubishi has already confirmed it will soon begin sales of a rebadged Frontier in the States.

The only ute in Honda's lineup right now is the Ridgeline, which is essentially a monocoque Pilot SUV with a tray grafted on the back.

MORE: Explore the Honda showroom | Mitsubishi Triton showroom