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Mitsubishi eX Concept portends an electric future

Mitsubishi's future is electric, and the Japanese brand's eX Concept presents its vision for a crossover EV for the years to come at the Tokyo Motor Show. At the same time, the company is using this opportunity to show off some next-gen tech that could arrive in production models someday. To get around, the all-wheel-drive eX Concept packs front and rear electric motors that each produce 94 horsepower, and they're powered by a 45-kilowatt-hour, lithium-ion battery under the passenger compartment. For added traction, the torque split is variable between the back wheels, and braking can adjust things at the nose. Plus, sensors and cameras can read the road ahead and tweak the system accordingly. The eX portends what's next for the company's design language, but traces from the latest Outlander are still visible. Up front, there's a revised version of the brand's X-shaped grille that Mitsubishi calls the Dynamic Shield, but here the turn signals and LED running lights are placed at the top. The concept's bigger innovation to the brand's styling language is the floating roof that makes the side glass appear to wrap around the body. Mitsubishi highlights some future tech inside by using an augmented reality windshield. The idea is to display important info right on the glass to keep a driver's eye on the road, and it also means just a few digital displays are necessary for the physical instruments. For safety, a front-mounted camera and radar also help spot pedestrians and other potential hazards. Mitsubishi goes into elaborate detail about all of the eX's features in the announcement below. MITSUBISHI eX Concept – World Premiere ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Evolution in EV Technology + Heart-thumping SUV Allure Next-generation Compact SUV ?The MITSUBISHI eX Concept is a vision for a compact SUV powered by a next-generation EV system. In terms of design, overall it evokes the image of a sports crossover zipping nimbly around town as it merges the elegance and stylishness of a "shooting brake" (a term for a coupe with flowing styling fused with a hatchback car, the term originates from British hunting-use horse carriages) with compact SUV lines. The front end expresses a new interpretation of MMC's Dynamic Shield front design concept. In both its exterior and interior, the MITSUBISHI eX Concept indicates the direction MMC Design is taking.

Self-driving Mitsubishis could use adapted missile technology

Mitsubishi is a big company made up of many different divisions and subsidiaries. Yeah, we tend to focus on Mitsubishi Motors, but the sprawling company also manufactures steel, builds televisions – we all knew someone in the 1990s with a hulking Mitsubishi "big screen" – and even screws together fighter jets and the missiles they carry. According to a report from Automotive News Europe, Mitsubishi Motors is hoping to leverage the capabilities of its sister companies to catch up to the competition and get driverless cars on the road by 2020. That means adapting millimeter-wave radars, sensors, and cameras built for missiles to automotive uses. As Mitsubishi sees it, having the development work done on this tech – albeit for a radically different application – gives it a big advantage over the competition. "All we have to do is to put together the components that we already have," Katsumi Adachi, the chief engineer for Mitsu's auto equipment division, told ANE. "None of our competitors have such a wide array of capabilities." As ANE goes on to explain with the help of Tokyo-based IHS analyst Goro Tanamachi, this is no plug-and-play application. That's largely because of the different economics of the automotive and defense industries. In the former, the bean counters have a tremendous say. There are cuts and cost reductions and all sorts of other stuff designed to maximize profit margins. The defense industry, though, is the land of sparing no expense – that, according to Tanamachi-san, could make adapting missile tech to autonomous vehicles a possible, but potentially very pricey proposition. "Cost-cutting requests are much more severe in autos than aerospace," Tanamachi-san told ANE. "I wonder if it's possible for them to bring down the cost of the systems to the levels manufacturers can use for cheap, low-end cars." Related Video: X

Mitsubishi launches, prices 2018 Outlander PHEV for U.S.

We've been waiting on this one a long time. Mitsubishi has been selling the plug-in hybrid version of its Outlander crossover for a while now, just not here in the U.S. It has seen popularity overseas, though, and is Europe's best-selling plug-in hybrid. It surpassed the 100,000 sales mark back in early 2016, thanks to Europe and Japan. Now, Mitsubishi is looking to electrify our shores, and will bring the all-new Outlander PHEV to the U.S. by the end of the year. The Outlander PHEV is powered by a 2.0-liter engine and two 60-kW electric motors, one situated at each axle, for a total estimated output of 195 horsepower. That makes it all-wheel-drive as well, using Mitsubishi's Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) system borrowed from the Lancer Evolution, and it has already proven itself in off-road competition. A 300-volt, 12-kWh lithium-ion battery pack is located in the subfloor between the front and rear axles. It can be charged via plug (including DC fast-charging capability), or via the car's regenerative braking system (adjustable using paddle shifters). The vehicle features three different, automatically selected drive modes. EV Drive Mode makes use of the electric motors for all-electric driving. Parallel Hybrid Mode uses the gas engine to drive the front wheels, and provides added power from the electric motors as necessary (mainly at high speeds, where this mode is the most efficient). Series Hybrid Mode uses the gasoline engine as a generator to charge the battery and provide power to the electric motors, which are doing the propulsion work. There are also three driver-selected modes. Eco Mode reduces fuel and electricity consumption. Battery Save Mode conserves charge, operating in hybrid mode. Battery Charge Mode keeps the engine running to generate electricity and recharge the battery pack to make sure you'll have power for driving uphill or towing, for instance. EV driving range and fuel economy figures will be released soon, but Mitsubishi says it expects to exceed the premium competition (which offer about 14 miles of EV range). The Outlander PHEV is also big on technology. It offers a suite of safety systems, including blind spot and lane departure warnings, multi-view camera, adaptive cruise control, auto high beams, and forward collision mitigation. The vehicle offers a smartphone app that allows the owner to remotely control the charging schedule, climate control, lighting, vehicle settings, and monitor vehicle status.