Mitsubishi Strakar

The Mitsubishi Strakar is a version of the Mitsubishi L200 pickup sold under its own name in Portugal, launched in 1999 as the most luxurious L200 in the range and available only with four-wheel drive and Club Cab or Double Cab bodies. The name was created in April 1999 at Mitsubishi Motors de Portugal after Fiat launched a new pickup called Strada, the name the luxury L200 had carried in Japan and Portugal; the rally driver Carlos Sousa suggested combining Strada and Dakar with the letters da dropped. The first generation was updated in 2001 and 2005, its production ended in 2005, and it led the Portuguese pickup market, serving also in beach lifeguard patrols with the ISN rescue institute and with the nature conservation institute ICN. A new second generation with a 2.5-litre common-rail DI-D engine arrived in 2006, and special series such as Sea Master, Baja and Dakar were sold.