Mitsubishi Outlander is one of the oldest crossovers on the market: the current version debuted at the Geneva Motor Show in 2012, so it will be eight years old in a couple of months. But in 2020, we will still wait for a generational change. This was stated by the head of Mitsubishi Europe Bernard Loire (Bernard Loire).
Recently, Mitsubishi often delays the introduction of new models to the market. We never saw the successors of the Lancer and Pajero. But the Outlander is the company's bestseller today. What is more surprising is the growth of its sales even at the end of its career: in 2018, sales increased by almost 10%, to 236,000 cars. At the same time, a significant part falls on the hybrid version. So, in Europe, the Outlander PHEV sold approximately 36,000 cars in 2019 (while this is a forecast, exact statistics have not yet been published) against 20,000 in 2018.
As a result, the Japanese brand will bet on a hybrid in the new generation of Outlander. Bernard Loire spoke about this in an interview with Automotive News Europe. But there will be no more diesel versions. At the same time, for some markets, MMC will likely retain conventional petrol modifications.
The rest of the details about the next version of Outlander are quite modest. But one important detail is already known: the car will “move” to the platform of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance. Surely this means that the crossover will switch to the CMF-C / D architecture, which is also the basis for the Nissan Qashqai, X-Trail and Renault Koleos.
As for appearance, the novelty will be made in the spirit of the Mitsubishi Engelberg Tourer concept. How exactly the new Outlander will match it, we will be able to find out in the second half of the year, when the crossover enters the market. And almost simultaneously with it, Mitsubishi plans to start selling some kind of compact SUV. Given the recent ASX update and the "youth" of the Eclipse Cross, we are talking about some other model.
New Mitsubishi Outlander confirmed for 2020
