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My Delica obsession

— New Taipei City

The Mitsubishi Delica is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) light trucks in Taiwan. The iconic L300 variant (aka the Third Generation)1 has been manufactured here by China Motor Corporation (CMC), Mitsubishi’s local manufacturing partner, and is ubiquitous on the island. Even though the L300 has been discontinued in Japan in 1998, CMC has continued producing and modernising versions of the same design in Taiwan, and it is still possible to purchase it new2.

I’ve started noticing the Delicas on our last trip, but this time around, hunting for them has become a bit of an obsession: I’ve been collecting different variants and liveries (my favourite is the very colourful school bus version!), which I’m sharing below.

This might yet turn into a proper project with time, but for now, enjoy the photos!

A white Delica truck with a green tarp on a parking lot in Tainan
Driver side front view of a classic blue Delica truck
Detail of the cab of a clasic blue Delica truck loaded with cardboard
A 2022 Delica van used as a kindergarten school bus in Taichun
A white pick up truck Delica variant participating in some road works in New Taipei City
A modern dark blue pick up truck variant parked in a building in Tainan
A vintage van variant in silver, with a busted passenger side turn signal parked in New Taipei City
A white and orange van version in Jiayi
A modern van version with a roof rack in Tainan
An older white refrigerated cab version on the streets of Jiayi
A van serving as a kindergarten school bus in central Taichung

  1. The L300 also has a 4WD campervan version, the StarWagon, which is very popular in the west with a certain outdoorsy crowd, but this is not what we’re going to be talking about here. ↩

  2. Although Mitsubishi and CMC both sell the car under their respective brands, both are manufactured by CMC! ↩