Mitsubishi is reportedly working on a pair of hybrid SUVs, which is able to enter production as early as 2028.
Nikkei Asia reports they’ll be based on the Outlander currently produced in Japan, in addition to the RVR. The latter is the name utilized in Japan for the first-generation ASX, which was replaced here last 12 months by a frivolously restyled Renault Captur.
If the first-generation ASX was an individual, it could be sufficiently old to vote come 2028, suggesting Mitsubishi is working on a substitute model. The old ASX is obtainable in a diminishing variety of markets, including the US, and is not any longer sold in Japan.
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The brand new Outlander and RVR/ASX hybrids might be the primary Mitsubishi models developed in-house with hybrid power that aren’t tiny kei cars.
Despite markets like Australia and the US clamouring for hybrid SUVs, Mitsubishi has some major gaps in its lineup it has yet to fill – and a goal for hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) to account for 50 per cent of its global sales by 2030.
Mitsubishi has offered hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the European ASX, but never in key markets like Japan, Australia, Southeast Asia and North America.
It does even have a small hybrid SUV in Southeast Asia, the Xforce launched in 2024, but this is barely sold in a small handful of markets outside of this region.
Japan and Australia miss out, with Mitsubishi Motors Australia having confirmed previously that the Xforce isn’t compliant with local regulations.
The corporate offered PHEVs long before most automakers, but Nikkei Asia reports high prices for its Outlander PHEV have limited its appeal in Japan.
It has never had a traditional hybrid Outlander, despite Alliance partners Renault and Nissan offering hybrids, though it does offer the PHEV plus a mild-hybrid turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol powertrain in markets comparable to the US.
The present Outlander entered production in 2021, which implies it’ll be seven years old by the point this hybrid option arrives. That means it might not appear until the subsequent generation of the favored mid-size SUV.
With hybrid passenger cars also reportedly accounting for 1.53 million sales within the Japanese market – in comparison with fewer than 50,000 sales each for PHEVs and EVs – Mitsubishi reportedly doesn’t need to be left further behind.
Hybrid sales also proceed to boom in markets just like the US and Australia, though it’s unclear at this stage which markets the brand new Outlander and ASX hybrids might be exported to.
Mitsubishi is facing headwinds in markets like Southeast Asia and Australia, where Chinese brands are making serious inroads.
With profits declining in Southeast Asia – from 63.6 billion yen in fiscal 12 months 2019 to 19.8 billion yen in fiscal 12 months 2024 – that has reportedly made Mitsubishi more reliant on the US market lately, however it has now been impacted by tariffs which are eroding the automaker’s profitability there.
Now, there’s a greater give attention to the Japanese market, wherein Mitsubishi holds a share of just over two per cent.
Mitsubishi delivered just 117,874 vehicles there in 2025 per data published by Nippon.com, down 1.3 per cent year-on-year and only narrowly ahead of Subaru (111,297), and well below every other mainstream Japanese auto brand.
In Australia, Mitsubishi suffered a fair greater sales slide last 12 months, dropping 17.9 per cent year-on-year to 61,198 units.
Recent Australian regulations forced Mitsubishi to stop imports of the Eclipse Cross and Pajero Sport, with the impacted ASX replaced by the Spanish-sourced, Renault-based second-generation ASX.
Mitsubishi nevertheless held onto sixth place overall within the 2025 new-car market, but to the tip of April it’s currently sitting in eighth position this 12 months, having been overtaken by Chinese brands BYD and GWM.
This Article First Appeared At www.carexpert.com.au
