Mitsubishi Outlander Diamond Trail Edition Is A Great Example Of How To Name This Sort Of Thing

Toyota has Woodland, Honda has TrailSport, Subaru has Wilderness, and now Mitsubishi is getting into the off-road crossover game with what I feel like is the best suffix of them all: the 2028 Mitsubishi Outlander Diamond Trail Edition. 

This will take the compact crossover's dirt prowess beyond that of the existing Trail Edition with a tweaked off-road mode for the all-wheel-drive system, a new "Rock" driving mode, and 18-inch off-road wheels with Nexen Roadian ATX all-terrain tires. That new Rock mode automatically turns on Hill Descent Control, uses brakes to minimize wheel-slip, and, Mitsubishi says, does so faster than it would in other drive modes.

A lot of the appeal of an off-road variant is in the aesthetics, and the Diamond Trail Outlander gets a blacked-out grille, darkened headlights, and redesigned bumpers front and rear, meant to improve approach and departure angles. The approach angle is now 20.5 degrees versus 18.3 with the standard Outlander, while the departure angle goes from 22.2 to 23.1 degrees.

Inside, a new water-repellent gray material can be found on the seats, held together by khaki stitching. The digital instrument cluster features a new page that shows off-road-relevant info like front-wheel steering angle, individual wheel-slip, and what the traction control is doing, while the multi-view camera system that lets you see where you should and shouldn't step can now remain on at speeds of up to 18.6 mph versus 6.2 mph in the regular Outlander.

Worth noting is the fact that Mitsubishi is debuting this car at the SEMA Show in Las Vegas next month, marking the first time Mitsubishi is making an appearance there since 2012 — to illustrate how long ago that was in Mitsu terms, the Evo X was still being made and would go on being sold for another four years. A stock Outlander Diamond Trail Edition will be on display alongside two other examples with increasingly extreme aftermarket off-road parts, and we can already hear that booth attendant unironically uttering the words, "It's amazing what a set of wheels and tires can do for these cars."

That name, though, may just be our favorite part of the whole package. Not only does it conjure up images of difficult ski hills, but diamonds actually mean something in the context of this particular brand. In Japanese, "mitsubishi" literally translates to three diamonds, as in the three diamonds that make up its logo. When it entered into a joint venture with Chrysler in 1985, that company was called Diamond-Star Motors (DSM). Mitsubishi once sold a car called the Diamante, and its in-house soccer team is called the Urawa Red Diamonds.

In other words, "Diamond Trail" is very much a Mitsubishi thing, and unlike, say, Nissan's Rock Creek, it isn't just two random outdoorsy words slapped together by some marketing people who thought they'd sound fine together. Diamond Trail also just sounds fun. Just self-serious enough, admittedly a little goofy, and very much imbuing the energy of a brand that — we say this with love — has little to lose.

In any case, Mitsubishi seemingly isn't done making Diamond Trail cars because it says this Outlander "will head a new generation of off-road-capable vehicles." As of right now, Mitsubishi only offers three other models in the U.S. that aren't the Outlander: the smaller Eclipse Cross crossover, the even smaller Outlander Sport crossover, and the Eclipse Sportback EV that's basically a rebadged Nissan Leaf. Hey, Mitsubishi, you know what'd be real cool? A Diamond Trail Edition of that cool new Pajero.