A well-known name returns to the Dutch street scene: the Mitsubishi Colt is back!
Known approach
A well-known name returns to the Dutch street scene, because the Mitsubishi Colt is back! The once successful Japanese is reviving in a special way, namely as a successful Frenchman with other brand emblems.
Highlights
- Based on renewed Renault Clio
- Two petrol versions, one hybrid
- In October in the showroom
Remember the Mitsubishi Colt? For years it was indispensable and the Colt is still considered the most successful model that Mitsubishi brought to the man here in the Netherlands. Now the Colt is back, barely ten years after the previous generation (built in Born) left the field. Where that Colt shared its base with the Smart ForFour, it can be seen at a glance what the technical brother of the brand new is. We are of course dealing here with the Renault Clio on which Mitsubishi has been allowed to print its own names and logos.
That’s no surprise, Mitsubishi already pulled that trick earlier this year with the new Mitsubishi ASX (Renault Captur) and the first teaser plate from last year clearly showed a Clio with a Mitsubishi nose. A kind of ‘intermediate solution’, Frank Krol, the CEO of Mitsubishi Europe, indicated earlier. Krol explains to AutoWeek that this Colt must ensure that Mitsubishi keeps a grip on the important market for compact models in Europe. Furthermore, the hope is that loyal Mitsubishi customers will stick around thanks to the new ASX and Colt, until more new own models arrive in the long run.
Mitsubishi Colt.
After the facelift
The new Mitsubishi Colt appears at a convenient time, because the Renault Clio has recently been facelifted and Mitsubishi was able to take the new Clio as a basis. This is immediately visible on the nose. After all, the Mitsubishi Colt also has a deeper and wider-cut grille around the logo. The implementation of this is of course different than with the Clio. Mitsubishi gives the Colt some chrome inserts to give it a bit of its own look and the daytime running lights (standard from the second trim level) look slightly different from the Renault. The Mitsubishi Colt also always has a slightly different front bumper than the facelift Clios that we have seen to date. There is a good chance that we see the bumper here as the new Clio gets with the less fortunate versions.
At the rear, the adjustments have been more limited. As with the new ASX, the brand name is written out on the tailgate and the brand logo is missing here. The latter means that the reversing camera is rather prominent in the ‘pimple’ on the tailgate, which is neatly concealed by the Renault logo on the Clio.
Mitsubishi Colt.
It will not surprise you, but the interior is a feast of recognition. Just like the Clio, the Colt has a 7-inch digital instrument panel as standard and a 10-inch one at extra cost. In the center of the dashboard is of course the same 7 or optional 9.3-inch infotainment screen as with the Clio. A system that can be adjusted to your liking. So you can widgets select and conjure up on the screen as you can on a smartphone, for example. Everything, down to the fonts, is the same as in the Clio, but decorated with Mitsubishi decals.
Mitsubishi Colt.
Three powertrains, four versions
Under the hood you can find some wybertjes with a little searching. There you will find, if you have kept your hand firmly on the purse strings, the 65-hp atmospheric 1.0 three-cylinder that the Clio in the Netherlands lacks. There is a good chance that the starting price of the Colt is therefore somewhat lower. In practice, more people will go for the second option, the 1.0-liter three-cylinder with turbo, which generates 90 hp. Both petrol engines are mated to a five-speed manual transmission. The most powerful and possibly most interesting version is the Mitsubishi Colt Hybrid. It has the 145 hp powertrain on board that you may know from the Clio E-Tech Hybrid.
Mitsubishi says it is deliberately nice and clear with the equipment. This means that there is an introductory version (First Edition) and three fixed trim levels (Pure, Intense and Instyle), which entail subtle differences from each other. Think of other wheels, 15-inch steel or 16 or 17-inch light metal ones, or, for example, black or painted accents on the body.
Mitsubishi Colt.
The Mitsubishi Colt will return to Dutch showrooms in October. Why would you be able to leave the Clio for this Colt in due course? Well, for starters, Mitsubishi has a five-year or 100,000 km manufacturer’s warranty on all models, so the Colt has an edge in that. In addition, there is the aforementioned basic engine that undoubtedly lowers the starting price compared to the Clio and who knows that some more advantages will emerge when comparing the different versions and similarly equipped Clios. We will undoubtedly take another look at that in Back to Basics. Now we have to wait for the prices, which will be announced by Mitsubishi in the run-up to the market introduction.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl