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2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV gets more power, EV range

It's been quite awhile coming, but the key details of the 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV are finally here: electric range, horsepower and pricing. And they're all increases over the old model, mostly in good ways. Like before, the Outlander PHEV runs mainly as a series hybrid, with forward propulsion coming from a pair of electric motors (one front, one rear). The naturally aspirated 2.4-liter four-cylinder mainly acts as a generator, though it can provide direct power in certain circumstances. Overall output is 248 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. Supplying electric power is a 20-kWh battery pack, a touch more than 6-kWh greater than the old pack. The bigger battery boosts electric range to 38 miles. Interestingly, Mitsubishi continues to also offer the ability to charge at a DC fast charger. At 38 minutes to charge to 80%, it's not especially fast compared with many modern electric cars, but it's a neat option that few plug-in hybrids offer. Overall fuel economy is rated at 64 mpg-e, which is actually worse than the outgoing model that got 74 mpg-e. We're not entirely sure what resulted in the lower overall number, since fuel economy when running on a depleted battery wasn't given. We would expect numbers close to the regular Outlander, which gets 26 to 27 mpg in combined driving depending on configuration.  The price also goes up. At $41,190, it's $2,690 more than the old model. But that seems fairly reasonable considering the additional electric range and power, not to mention the fact that the powertrain is packaged in the vastly improved new Outlander chassis with its more attractive styling and nicer interior. It also finds itself priced carefully between the slightly more expensive RAV4 Prime (which has a bit more electric range and more power) and the Ford Escape Plug-in Hybrid (which is front-drive only and just one mile less range). Both those options are more efficient overall, as is the most affordable Tucson PHEV, though it's only available in select states and has the lowest range at 33 miles. It does offer a bit more power than the Mitsubishi, though. The 2023 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV goes on sale first in select states around November, but will be offered nationwide a little later. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Junkyard Gem: 1994 Mitsubishi Diamante ES Sedan

Once the decade of the 1990s got rolling, the Lexus LS400, Toyota Cressida, Infiniti Q45, Acura Legend and Mazda 929 had proven that big Japanese-made luxury sedans could rack up respectable sales in the United States. Mitsubishi dove into that competition starting with the 1992 model year, when the Diamante arrived on our shores. Here's one of those early Diamantes, found in an Oklahoma City car graveyard recently. Mitsubishi had been selling big, swanky Debonairs at home since the middle 1960s, but that car was never sold new in North America (though a Debonair-related Hyundai, the XG300/XG350, did show up here). The Diamante was based on an enlarged Galant/Sigma platform and was available here as a pillared hardtop four-door sedan (in which there is a narrow B pillar but the door windows are frameless) and as a station wagon. The US-market sedan was built in Japan, while the wagon came from Australia. The Diamante's price tag made it tempting for American buyers considering Japanese luxury sedans. The base ES sedan listed for $25,525 in 1994, which comes to about $53,097 in 2023 dollars. Meanwhile, the Mazda 929 started at $30,500 ($63,446 now), the Acura Legend sedan cost $33,800 ($70,311 now), the Infiniti Q45 listed at $49,450 ($102,866 now) and the Lexus LS400 was $51,200 ($106,507 now). The higher-zoot Diamante LS (which cost $32,500 in 1994) got a twin-cam 6G72 V6 driving the front wheels with 202 horsepower, but today's Junkyard Gem is a base ES and it has the SOHC 6G72 with just 175 horses. Mitsubishi built Diamantes with manual transmissions, but we didn't get those cars on our side of the Pacific. A four-speed automatic transmission was mandatory equipment in North American Diamantes. This car didn't quite make it to 140,000 miles during its career. It appears that this car passed through the hands of both Fred Jones and a lesser-known outfit called Amigoland Motors during its life. This generation of Diamante remained on sale in the United States through the 1996 model year, but sales never measured up to Mitsubishi's hopes. The wagon got the axe after 1995, at which time the ES sedan became a fleet-sales-only machine. For 1996, all Diamantes sold here were fleet cars. For 1997, a new generation of Diamante showed up; sales continued through 2004. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. For Mitsubishi's diamond anniversary, the precious Diamante (with cheap lease terms).

Nissan posts $6.2 billion annual loss and unveils plan to cut costs

TOKYO — Nissan outlined a new plan on Thursday to become a smaller, more cost-efficient carmaker after the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated a slide in profitability that culminated in its first annual loss in 11 years. Under a new four-year plan, the Japanese manufacturer will slash its production capacity and model range by about a fifth to help cut 300 billion yen from fixed costs. It will shut plants in Spain and Indonesia, leave the South Korean market and pull its Datsun brand from Russia as part of a strategy unveiled on Wednesday to share production globally with its partners Renault and Mitsubishi. "I will make every effort to return Nissan to a growth path," Nissan Chief Executive Makoto Uchida said, adding that the company had learned from its past mistakes of chasing global market share at all costs. "We must admit failures and take corrective actions," he said, adding that starting with top-level managers, the company had to break its inward-looking culture which in the past has stymied efforts to deepen cooperation with France's Renault. Uchida said improving the company's cash flow was its biggest challenge. He reiterated that Nissan's cash liquidity was good even though it had negative free cash flow of 641 billion yen in the year ended in March. Nissan declined to give any forecasts for its current financial year which started in April due to the uncertainty created by the coronavirus pandemic. It also declined to give details on how many jobs it was cutting. In what is Nissan's second recovery plan in less than a year, Uchida pledged a return to profitability with a core operating profit margin above 5% and a sustainable global market share of 6%. Nissan posted an annual operating loss of 40.5 billion yen for the year to March 31, its worst performance since 2008/09. Its operating profit margin was -0.4%. The automaker said on Thursday that it sold 4.9 million vehicles last year, up from an earlier estimate of 4.8 million. That was still the second decline in a row and a fall of 11% from the previous period but meant Nissan clung on to its position as Japan's second biggest carmaker, just ahead of Honda and a long way behind Toyota. Pandemic pressure Even before the spread of the novel coronavirus, Nissan's slumping profits had forced it to row back on an aggressive expansion plan pursued by ousted leader Carlos Ghosn. The pandemic has only piled on the urgency to downsize.