The new Mitsubishi Outlander, unveiled at the beginning of this year, has not yet set foot on European soil. Sin? Perhaps, the PHEV version of the current Outlander has turned out to be one of its biggest European successes of recent years for the brand. The new Mitsubishi Outlander also comes with a plug-in hybrid variant and we now get a first impression.
The Outlander has been by far the model in the Netherlands with which Mitsubishi has achieved the greatest sales successes in the last ten years. Mitsubishi owes this mainly to the PHEV, the plug-in hybrid Outlander of which more than 8,000 copies were sold annually between 2013 and 2015. Mitsubishi in our country can now only dream of such sales figures, driven by tax benefits, among other things. A plug-in hybrid will also come from the new Outlander, but the question is whether – despite the teaser plate – it will also come to Europe.
The future of Mitsubishi in Europe seemed to hang by a thread for some time. The brand announced in 2020 that the then new facelifted ASX would be the last new or renewed Mitsubishi car that it would deliver in Europe. With that, the new Outlander unveiled at the beginning of this year definitely did not come to our market, but there is a glimmer of hope. This year, Mitsubishi came back to its decision and reported that it has at least two Renault-based models in the barrel for Europe. The new Outlander could be one of those two newcomers, as the car shares its CMF-CD platform with the Nissan X-Trail/Rogue. Indeed, a platform of the Renault-Nissan alliance.
Mitsubishi shows a new photo of the Outlander PHEV, for which the door seems to be slightly ajar. The new plug-in hybrid Outlander will receive a further developed version of the well-known S-AWC powertrain, which includes two electric motors and a petrol engine. We are awaiting a response from the Dutch importer.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl