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Mitsubishi, which is also a junior partner in an alliance with
France's Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co, said it will roll out
16 new models over the next five years.
The Japanese automaker, known for its Outlander sport utility
vehicle, stuck to a previous goal of having half of its new car
sales electrified by fiscal 2030 and on Friday newly pledged to
raise that further to 100% by fiscal 2035.
Mitsubishi considers plug-in hybrids (PHEV), hybrid electric
vehicles and battery electric vehicles (BEV) as electrified
vehicles. Electrified vehicles accounted for about 7% of the
company's total new car sales in fiscal 2021.
"Among our existing models, we'll expand the geographical areas
where our flagship PHEV Outlander is being offered and build out
the sales of the Minicab-MiEV light commercial EV that was
relaunched last year," Chief Executive Takao Kato said.
Among the 16 new models Mitsubishi plans to roll out, one will
be a BEV Renault alliance model, while another will be a Nissan
alliance model, Mitsubishi said in presentation materials that
were part of its fiscal 2023-2025 business plan.
Mitsubishi, an early mover in EVs in the early 2010s, currently
has no BEVs in its line-up in Europe. Its new BEV for Europe
would mark a comeback in a highly competitive market where new
entrants such as Tesla have already rapidly won market share.
The model could be a variant of the Renault electric MPV Scenic
made in France and expected in 2024, or a variant of the Renault
electric city cars R5 or R4 expected respectively in 2024 and
2025 and also made in France, a source close to the matter said.
Mitsubishi Europe declined to comment on the matter.
Of the other 14 models Mitsubishi plans to launch, seven will be
purely combustion engine-powered ones, five will be hybrids and
the remaining two will be BEV, the company said.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Gilles Guillaume; Additional
reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim, Shounak
Dasgupta and Christina Fincher)
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