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Mitsubishi delays Outlander PHEV yet again for the US

Mitsubishi was so close this time. The company showed the US-spec version of the plug-in Outlander crossover at this year's New York auto show, with plans for it to go on sale in the summer or fall of 2016. But once again, the beleaguered green family hauler has been delayed. HybridCars learned from Mitusbishi public relations managers for both the US and Canada that the Outlander PHEV won't go on sale until next summer. No specific reasons for the delay were given outside of a need "to meet a level of competitiveness that will exceed customer expectations." While we hope for Mitsubishi's sake the company releases the best product it can make, we don't think the expectations of our market will be that high, since there are no plug-in hybrid SUVs in the Outlander's class and price range. Unfortunately delays have been a recurring problem for this model. We first thought it would arrive in 2014 after launching in Japan. But ever since the original announcement, problems including battery production issues and regulatory demands have prevented the Outlander PHEV's US introduction. In the meantime, Japan and Europe have had the crossover for a few years. The car has since been refreshed, and we were promised that updated model but no dice yet. HybridCars also points out that the Outlander PHEV has been the best-selling plug-in hybrid in Europe. We imagine it could be a major success here since it combines plug-in tech with the ever-popular crossover body style, but we won't know until next year. At least as long as it doesn't get delayed again. Related Video: News Source: HybridCARSImage Credit: Drew Phillips Green Mitsubishi Crossover Hybrid PHEV

A car writer's year in new vehicles [w/video]

Christmas is only a week away. The New Year is just around the corner. As 2014 draws to a close, I'm not the only one taking stock of the year that's we're almost shut of. Depending on who you are or what you do, the end of the year can bring to mind tax bills, school semesters or scheduling dental appointments. For me, for the last eight or nine years, at least a small part of this transitory time is occupied with recalling the cars I've driven over the preceding 12 months. Since I started writing about and reviewing cars in 2006, I've done an uneven job of tracking every vehicle I've been in, each year. Last year I made a resolution to be better about it, and the result is a spreadsheet with model names, dates, notes and some basic facts and figures. Armed with this basic data and a yen for year-end stories, I figured it would be interesting to parse the figures and quantify my year in cars in a way I'd never done before. The results are, well, they're a little bizarre, honestly. And I think they'll affect how I approach this gig in 2015. {C} My tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015 it'll be as high as 73. Let me give you a tiny bit of background about how automotive journalists typically get cars to test. There are basically two pools of vehicles I drive on a regular basis: media fleet vehicles and those available on "first drive" programs. The latter group is pretty self-explanatory. Journalists are gathered in one location (sometimes local, sometimes far-flung) with a new model(s), there's usually a day of driving, then we report back to you with our impressions. Media fleet vehicles are different. These are distributed to publications and individual journalists far and wide, and the test period goes from a few days to a week or more. Whereas first drives almost always result in a piece of review content, fleet loans only sometimes do. Other times they serve to give context about brands, segments, technology and the like, to editors and writers. So, adding up the loans I've had out of the press fleet and things I've driven at events, my tally for the year is 68 cars, as of this writing. Before the calendar flips to 2015, it'll be as high as 73. At one of the buff books like Car and Driver or Motor Trend, reviewers might rotate through five cars a week, or more. I know that number sounds high, but as best I can tell, it's pretty average for the full-time professionals in this business.

Mitsubishi boss confirms new Mirage for US; i EV enduring dismal sales

By March, Mitsubishi expects to have sold just 55,000 cars in the US this fiscal year. That's a tiny sum - by comparison, Honda has sold over 276,000 Civic models thus far this year - and that's just one vehicle, not an entire brand. Mitsubishi president Osamu Masuko recognizes this is not a tenable position, and he's hoping the company will shift 80,000 units next fiscal year. Warding off speculation, Masuko has repeatedly stated that his company will not retreat from the US market like competitor Suzuki.
We reported on one part of Masuko's plan, the updated Outlander, and now he has confirmed that the small Mirage will be sold in the US beginning next September. The cut-price hatchback is selling well enough that Mitsu's Thailand plant is at its full capacity of 150,000 cars. "And even at that level it's not keeping up with orders," Masuko tells Automotive News. Masuko went on to say the plant would be expanded next year to handle an extra 50,000 units. We can also expect the Outlander plug-in early 2014.