a ratchet and a pawl, the ratchet being moveable between a striker capture position and a striker release position, the pawl being moveable between a ratchet holding position, whereat the ratchet is maintained in the striker capture position, and a ratchet release position, whereat the ratchet is biased toward the striker release position;

a power actuator operably coupled to a drive train, the drive train including a first driven gear and a second driven gear, the second driven gear having an actuation feature fixed thereto; and

a latch release mechanism operably coupling the actuation feature to the pawl, the latch release mechanism having a lost motion connection with the actuation feature, wherein rotation of the gear train via energization of the power actuator causes the actuation feature to move in the lost motion connection with the latch release mechanism prior to the latch release mechanism pulling the pawl to move from the ratchet holding position toward the ratchet release position,

wherein the latch release mechanism includes a link arm operably coupling the pawl to the second driven gear, wherein a pulling force extending generally along a length of the link arm is applied on the pawl to pull the pawl from the ratchet holding position toward the ratchet release position, wherein the lost motion connection is between the actuation feature and the link arm, wherein the link arm has a slot extending between a first drive end and a second drive end, and the actuation feature is disposed in the slot for sliding movement between the first drive end and the second drive end.