Mitsubishi has released an image that hints at how the next L200 pickup truck might look, inviting speculation as to the future of the popular model.
The Mitsubishi L200 has been around in various forms since 1978. It was conceived as a no-nonsense working vehicle for tradesmen and businesses, so robustness, simplicity and economy were its chief selling points.
However, the last few decades have seen a big shift in buying habits, and every year thousands of private motorists choose the L200 or one of its many rivals, including the Ford Ranger, Isuzu D-MAX, Nissan Navara and Toyota Hilux.
Although all of the above are available in basic, rugged specifications designed for a life of hard work, you can also choose versions with all the bells and whistles offered by a typical luxury SUV, and it’s this emerging market that has led to the greatest shift in pickup design in the last two decades.
There’s a strong demand for luxury pickups like the Mercedes X-Class and Renault Alaskan, so could the next Mitsubishi L200 be designed to more closely match the demands of SUV buyers?
This teaser image gives very little away, but it depicts a vehicle with a tough look that would be equally at home on a machine used for work or play.
There’s a huge distance between the wheel arch lip and the tyre’s edge, which hints at long-travel suspension as found on the upcoming Ford Ranger Raptor, which is designed with energetic off-road driving in mind.
The headlights, though, have a narrow, sleek look akin to those of the Range Rover Velar – a far cry from the functional designs seen on most pickups to date.
No on-sale date has been set for the next Mitsubishi L200, but as the current generation has been on sale since 2014, we expect it to arrive before 2020.
