Tag Archives: Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Has an EV Coming Soon

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Perhaps not propitious timing in the US, but needs must. . .

By Gary S. Vasilash

According to research conducted by IPSOS NVCS for Mitsubishi Motors North America:

  • 96% of compact CUV owners who shopped for a Mitsubishi Outlander purchased one.
  • 94% of subcompact CUV owners who shopped for a Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross purchased one.
  • 97% of small CUV owners who shopped for a Mitsubishi Outlander Sport purchased one.
  • 92% of plug-in hybrid owners who shopped for a Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-in Hybrid purchased one.

Which seem like awfully good numbers.

But the thing is, the people who shopped those vehicles must have been specifically shopping those vehicles because sales of Mitsubishi in Q1 2026 were fairly underwhelming, with a total of 26,884 vehicles sold.

Clearly it could have used more shoppers for its four vehicles.

It is somewhat surprising that Mitsubishi doesn’t do much, much better in the US market because this is not only a company with a long pedigree (its first vehicle, the Model A, was launched in Japan in 1917), but over the years has made some notable vehicles (e.g., the Lancer EVO) and according to the most-recent JD Power Vehicle Dependability study, with 208 points, is four points below the industry average, but tied with Genesis.

Mitsubishi announced today that it will introduce the Eclipse Sportback EV in North America in the second half of this year.

Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback EV. Mitsubishi is nothing if not stylish with its vehicle designs of late. (Image: Mitsubishi Motors North America)

Yes, an electric vehicle.

Mitsubishi is no stranger to EVs having produced the i-MiEV, which some consider to be the first highway-capable, mass-produced EV. It appeared in Japan in 2009. It made it to America in 2011.

“Highway-capable” must be taken with a grain of lithium. It produced 66 hp and had a range of 62 miles. Presumably that range was severely reduced when people were hard on the throttle to get up to highway speed.

Arguably the i-MiEV didn’t do any favors to Mitsubishi or electric vehicles.

There were only some 2,100 sold in the US between introduction in 2011 and discontinuation in 2017.

The Eclipse Sportback EV is based on the current Nissan LEAF. Mitsubishi and Nissan are alliance partners, so platform sharing makes sense, especially for EVs that desperately need to achieve production scale.

The new LEAF is well-regarded, which means this is likely a good way to go for Mitsubishi.

But what isn’t particularly good is that in Q1 2026 Nissan sold just 668 LEAFs in the US.

Still, Mitsubishi needs more product, and this will give them that.