New and completely own design
While eyes are still on the show floor in Paris, Mitsubishi elsewhere in the world draws the curtain of a freshly designed study model: the Mitsubishi XFC Concept. A compact SUV that might not look out of place here as a successor to the ASX.
Tomorrow it will be exactly one month since Mitsubishi presented the new ASX. This undoubtedly caused some surprise here and there; the new ASX is after all little more than a Renault Captur with different logos. Mitsubishi itself is also aware that it may not be quite a top approach and even calls the new ASX an ‘intermediate solution’. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi in Asia shows that it really has not yet lost its own view of a compact SUV. In Vietnam, the brand pulls the curtain on the XFC Concept, which immediately raises the question: shouldn’t a new ASX look something like this?
Let’s immediately dispel any hope of a European variant of the XFC: the XFC Concept is for the time being only a preview of a new high-legged for the Asian market. Hence the unveiling in Vietnam. That does not alter the fact that it is interesting to see what the Japanese have made of it. The Mitsubishi XFC Concept has quite unusual lines for a contemporary Mitsubishi; with its almost Polestar-like headlights and strikingly shaped rear light units, Mitsubishi clearly takes a somewhat different path than with other contemporary models. The shape of the grille is strongly reminiscent of many Mitsubishi’s of yesteryear and provides an important landmark.
The interior of the Mitsubishi XFC Concept is very contemporary, with two digital screens fused into one unit in front of you, touch-sensitive ‘buttons’ on the steering wheel and in the center console and screens showing the image of the digital side mirrors. It is of course still a study model, but it looks modern and sleek. In terms of material use, it may not be entirely up to European standards, although that is difficult to say from a distance, but the design is fine.
As mentioned, the production version of the Mitsubishi XFC Concept will be marketed in Asia and that will happen next year. Mitsubishi is still silent about powertrains in all languages, but you can bet that the XFC simply has fuel engines on board. There are also exhaust cutouts on the study model. While we shouldn’t expect the car here, we wouldn’t be surprised if we see design cues from it on any new European Mitsubishis in the future. Maybe on the next ASX?
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl