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Mitsubishi's crossover plan: New model coming to Geneva, Outlander PHEV finally on the way

Mitsubishi announced last night that it will be concentrating on crossovers for the foreseeable future (which includes leaving the Lancer behind). That future starts at this year's Geneva show, where the company will reveal a completely new small crossover. This new vehicle, the name of which Mitsubishi didn't reveal, is planned to reach dealers in early spring of 2018. It will feature a new version of Mitsubishi's All Wheel Control (AWC) all-wheel drive and a new turbocharged engine that we're told was designed completely in-house. We expect the new crossover to share cues with recent Mitsubishi concepts, including the eX Concept and Ground Tourer, since Mitsubishi's general manager of design strategy Kazuo Yano said they will set the tone for future Mitsubishis. Don Swearingen, executive vice president and COO of Mitsubishi in North America, said this new vehicle is the "best vehicle Mitsubishi has ever produced." That may not be the tallest order given the automaker's recent models, but it's definitely a good goal. As for the size of this new crossover, it will probably be comparable to the current Outlander Sport. The plan is that the Outlander Sport and Outlander will be changing sizes in the coming years. The former will shrink and the latter will grow, leaving space in the middle for the new small crossover. There will be an awkward overlapping period, though, since we're told both Outlander flavors are scheduled for a mild refresh sometime next year that won't include size changes. The resized Outlander models will come sometime after that refresh. (If we're lucky, one will get a new name to reduce confusion, especially with a new model sitting between them.) Speaking of Outlanders, we now know when we will finally get the Outlander PHEV, a variant that has been promised and re-promised for years now. A Mitsubishi PR representative said that the plug-in hybrid crossover will be on sale in the US sometime in the next fiscal year. (For reference, Mitsubishi's current fiscal year ends this March.) Swearingen said it will also make its official debut later this year. So after many, many delays, the US will finally see Mitsubishi's plug-in crossover. We'll see if it's as big a sales success here as it is in Europe. Related Video: Featured Gallery Mitsubishi eX Concept: Tokyo 2015 View 9 Photos Green Geneva Motor Show Mitsubishi Crossover Economy Cars Hybrid 2017 Detroit Auto Show

Weekly Recap: Toyota wants cars to be your 'close friends' around 2020

Toyota confirmed plans this week to launch autonomous technology in its production cars around 2020. The automaker's version is called Highway Teammate, and it's one element of a broader mobility strategy that includes vehicles communicating with each other and the grid. "Toyota believes that interactions between drivers and cars should mirror those between close friends who share a common purpose, sometimes watching over each other and sometimes helping each other out," the company said in a statement. That sounds utopian, and perhaps a bit cheesy, but it's an acknowledgment that autonomous driving requires more than technology developed in a vacuum. Toyota is looking at its research in a broader context, and dubs its overall strategy the Mobility Teammate Concept. Highway Teammate is the first step. Its test vehicle is a modified Lexus GS, which uses road-mapping data and external sensors to merge or exit highways, change lanes, and maintain safe distances during driving. It's operated on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Toyota has been working on autonomous tech since the 1990s, with the goal of providing mobility for older people and the disabled, as well as lowering the frequency of traffic accidents. Toyota's push comes as an early adopter, Nissan, is hedging on its own deadline to implement the autonomous tech by 2020 due to a lack of firm laws governing self-driving cars around the world. Conversely, Volvo took the landmark step of being the first automaker to accept liability for when its cars will operate in autonomous mode, and urged the US government to set federal guidelines to regulate the technology. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 BMW M4 GTS: Your water-injected, turbo-boosted demon BMW is unleashing its most powerful M4 ever, a 493-horsepower special edition that's road legal yet bred for the track. The company is making 700 copies for sale around the world, and 300 of them will come to the United States. The twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter six-cylinder revs to 7,600 rpm and uses a water-injection technology to cool the intake air and lower the compression temperature. BMW says this allows it to wring more power out of the inline six. The car also uses carbon-fiber reinforced plastic for the roof, hood, engine compartment strut brace, drive shaft, and rear spoiler to reduce weight. The M4 features BMW's organic light-emitting diode taillights, which are said to be an industry first.

Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi adopts Android infotainment in coup for Google

PARIS — The Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi carmaking alliance said on Tuesday it will adopt Alphabet's Google Android operating system, handing a victory to the U.S. tech giant as it pushes for a bigger share of the infotainment market. Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi, with combined sales of 10.6 million vehicles last year, said future models will "integrate Google applications and services" including Maps and the voice-commanded Google Assistant. The move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, leans more heavily on Big Tech than large or luxury rival carmakers have hitherto been willing to do. Many fear losing control of customer relationships, data and potentially significant future revenue from connected services. Some smaller manufacturers such as Volvo Cars have decided to embed Android Auto in their vehicles. But the scale of the shift by Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi may cause a broader rethink of costly standalone tech strategies. "Major carmakers earlier were reluctant to do business with Google, but this has now changed," said Jauke de Jong, a research analyst at AFS Group in Amsterdam. "More carmakers could follow suit and partner with Google." Until now, carmakers have largely chosen Linux, Microsoft or QNX software to power infotainment. That yields clunkier platforms they can control, but which offer little scope to add new apps or functionality. Far more than just hooking up a phone The news may spell trouble for certain existing auto-tech suppliers such as mapping specialist TomTom, which counts Renault among its customers. Shares in the Dutch group fell by more than quarter after the announcement. In return for handing Google the infotainment keys, the alliance will bring the full clout of Android's thousands of apps to its brands' lineups — which include a strong contingent of affordably priced, no-frills models for emerging markets. The partnership promises "rich user experiences that are currently available only outside the vehicle or, to a limited extent, by connecting an Android device to supported vehicles," alliance development chief Hadi Zablit said. While many volume carmakers offer infotainment "mirroring" to pair with Apple iPhones or Android smartphones, premium rivals such as BMW and Daimler's Mercedes-Benz are investing heavily in their own operating systems, vocal assistants and connected services.