Mitsubishi considering bringing Delica D:5 successor to South Africa

Mitsubishi Motors South Africa has sprung an unexpected surprise by confirming it is investigating the possibility of introducing the successor to the Delica D:5 MPV to South Africa later this year.

A staple of Mitsubishi’s line-up since 1968, the grey market favourite seven-or-eight-seat Delica D:5 competes in the hugely popular Japanese luxury MPV with sales at present being limited to its home market and certain Asian countries.

Return on the cards

Briefly sold in South Africa in the 1980s and early ‘90 as the Mitsubishi Starwagon and the rebadged Ford Husky, the Delica D:5 had as recently as 2019 been tipped for a future outside of Asia, although nothing has come of it since.

“Over the years we have looked at the Delica a number of times. We continue to get a lot of customer enquiries about this model which is why we are studying it again,” former Mitsubishi Australia CEO John Signoriello told motoring.com.au at the time.

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In a subsequent enquiry about the Delica possibly being offered in South Africa as an indirect replacement for the full-size Pajero, former Mitsubishi Motors South Africa (MMSA) General Manager, Nic Campbell, told The Citizen that no plans were being drawn-up to replace the Pajero with a different bodied model once supply runs out.

At present…

Currently it its fifth generation that premiered back in 2007, the Delica D:5, which while based on the same DaimlerChrysler-era GS platform as the previous generation Outlander, has remained an obscurity until now as no indication of a replacement has been talked about or rumoured.

Last extensively updated in 2018, the Delica currently derives motivation from the 2.2 DI-D turbodiesel engine Mitsubishi once employed in the Outlander and Eclipse Cross in Europe.

Paired to an eight-speed automatic gearbox, the setup delivers 130kW/380Nm to the front or all four wheels, the latter equipped with a lock function for the centre differential.

The presently unknown

As mentioned, virtually nothing is known about the next generation Delica D:5, though expectation is it will move to the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance’s CMF platform and feature a type of electrified powertrain in light of Mitsubishi’s move away from diesel.

Besides the Delica, Mitsubishi Motors South Africa also confirmed that three more SUVs are being worked on for introduction this year; a conventional five-seater, a three-row seven-seater and a completely undesignated additional model.

After a report earlier this month alleging the platform of the Pajero Sport possibly being stretched to accommodate a new model that will directly replace the Pajero, chances are that one of the latter models could possibly be it.

As such, expect more details to emerge, either as spy shots or leaked information, throughout the year.

Additional images and information from carscoops.com.