Mitsubishi announces Outlander Hybrid for Japan

The fourth-gen Mitsubishi Outlander was introduced this February and has so far only been available as a gas-powered car in the USA. This winter, an Outlander PHEV will be revealed in Japan.

The carmaker promises us a brand new part-electric powertrain complete with a larger battery and a more powerful electric engine, which should result in faster acceleration and more driving range. A new platform with an optimized unit and component layout will enable accommodating a third seat row inside, a major upgrade over the current-gen model that maxes out at just five seats.

This is all we know at the moment. The fourth-gen Outlander shares its chassis and tech with the Nissan X-Trail/Rogue, which should also emerge in a hybrid form called the e-Power soon. A few Nissan models are already using this powertrain, which consists of a 1.5-liter gasoline turbo three-pot acting as a range extender for the main electric motor. The Outlander may or may not get the same configuration.

The previous-gen Outlander PHEV features a more complex hybrid system capable of switching between parallel and serial operation modes. In the parallel mode, the ICE engine can be temporarily switched to driving the wheels. Unfortunately, since the current strategy adopted by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi envisions total unification, the odds of this system carrying over to the new generation are low.