It's a Dodgesubishi; MITSUBISHI SPORT TRUCK CONCEPT.(Special Report)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

Remember all those Mitsubishi truck tailgates where the owners spelled out different words with the letters M-I-T-S-U-B-I-S-H-I? Some were rude, but our favorite was "IT'S SUSHI.'' Well, when the all-new Mitsubishi medium-size truck bows in 2005 as a 2006 model, tailgaters will have a whole host of new spelling options.

The Mitsubishi Sport Truck Concept was revealed at the Detroit auto show, a month before Dodge revealed its own truck at Chicago. Coincidence? We think not. We say that because the Dodge is the Mitsubishi and the Mitsubishi is the Dodge. Or it will be once these two are built. It's a Dodge truck that will have Mitsubishi sheetmetal. True, Chrysler announced earlier this year that it wouldn't be spending any more money on salvaging Mitsubishi, but by that time this medium-size truck deal had already been struck, so the new Dodgesubishi will go through-and that's a lot more letters on the tailgate. See if you can spell out some more words.

Then we approach the question faced by Mitsubishi designers and engineers: how to take what is basically a Dodge truck and make it their own. Distinguishing the two presents a real challenge, given the hard points of your basic truck chassis-frame rails, engine mounts, A-pillar. There just isn't a whole lot of room to make something unique from another company's vehicle, no matter how creative you are.

"It'll be our take on it,'' Mitsubishi vp of marketing Ian Beavis assured us. "It'll look clearly like a Mitsubishi.''

For an idea of the production truck we can look to the Sport Truck Concept. Some of that will see the light of the showroom floor.

"The fenders and grille are more production,'' said designer Richard Plavetich.