Next-gen Nissan Navara to be a rebadged Mitsubishi Triton, Outlander to be X-Trail’s twin

In a recent announcement by the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi alliance, it has been decided that Mitsubishi Motors will take the lead in the Alliance’s business in South East Asia, while Nissan will take a step back to focus on USA, China, and Japan.

What this means is that the Alliance will adopt a so-called ‘Leader-Follower’ system, whereby each Alliance member will focus on developing products in markets they are strongest in.

For example, Nissan will stop/cutback on development work for the next generation Nissan Navara, which hasn’t been doing as well as the Mitsubishi Triton in South East Asia. Instead, the next Navara will simply be a rebadged version of the next generation Mitsubishi Triton.

On the flipside, the Mitsubishi Outlander hasn’t been selling as well as the Nissan X-Trail, which is very successful in USA, the biggest market for such vehicles.

Like the Navara-Triton arrangement, the next generation Outlander will be based on the next-generation Nissan X-Trail.

That said, this arrangement isn’t new, as Nissan currently rebadges the Mitsubishi Xpander as the Nissan Grand Livina in Indonesia. Both the Mitsubishi Xpander and Nissan Grand Livina are slated to be launched in Malaysia in the near future.