The 2022 Mitsubishi Triton is well positioned to take advantage of the supply-strapped Toyota HiLux, Ford Ranger and Isuzu D-Max.

In January, sales of the Mitsubishi Triton 4×4 outsold the Toyota HiLux 4×4.

Mitsubishi's workhorse Triton may be a smaller player in the popular one-ton ute segment compared to the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger, but that could change as supply issues continue to delay competing models.

In 2021, the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger topped Australia's favorite model charts, finding 52,801 and 50,279 new homes respectively.

The next most popular was the Isuzu D-Max (25,117 sales) and the Mitsubishi Triton came in fourth, ahead of Nissan Navara, Mazda BT-50 and GWM Ute with 19,232 new registrations last year.

However, in the first month of 2022, the Triton climbed to third in the ute rankings with sales of 2876 vehicles, well ahead of the Isuzu D-Max from 1895 to fourth in direct sales.

In fact, there was so much interest in the Triton last month that the 4×4 version outsold the HiLux by 35 units.

The jump in sales in January represents a significant increase in Triton sales of 50.7% year-over-year, and is noticeable in an industry that fell 4.8% overall.

So why the surge of interest?

It could be a simple matter, according to a Mitsubishi Australia spokesperson: Buyers buy what is available on dealer lots. Cars Guide the brand has ample stock of its Triton ute.

“Triton remains a strong value proposition and performs consistently month after month. Like many others, there have been supply side effects as well as COVID-related impacts limiting the “normal” logistics flow,” they said.

“We have received some relief from the supply side with a large batch of November production tritons.

“Overall, the Triton situation is currently in good shape, with about one month of inventory currently on the network, and about a quarter more shipments either on ships or handled by dealers by our supply chain partners.”

In comparison, customers looking for the new Toyota HiLux have to wait up to 22 weeks, while Ranger supplies are expected to become more limited as the model comes to an end and Ford ramps up production of the next-generation version due later. this year.

As for the Isuzu D-Max, waiting times are reported to be up to 25 weeks, meaning Mitsubishi Triton sales could continue to rise as competitors struggle to fill dealer yards with merchandise.