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Mitsubishi Mirage will launch in US with three-cylinder engine [w/video]

We have a date with Mitsubishi Mirage (again). The Japanese subcompact is slated to arrive on our shores in September 2013, and it's one of the product offerings meant to help Mitsubishi's US arm raise sales in its next financial year from 55,000 to 80,000. If next year were 1989, we'd say there's no reason that couldn't happen, but from what we've seen, the Mirage is so magnificently meek (have you seen the interior?) that we aren't sure how it will manage that kind of US sales aggression in the 21st century.
Continuing that theme, Car and Driver reports that the Mitsu will launch here with a 1.2-liter, three-cylinder engine. Make no mistake, this is a very popular engine in the Mirage and responsible for its excellent fuel economy. The hatch is doing so well in other markets with its two naturally aspirated tri-cylinders that the Thailand facility that builds the Mirage will have its capacity increased by 33 percent to try and meet demand. In European spec, the 845-kilogram (1,859 pounds) subcompact with the more powerful engine offering 79 horsepower and 78 pound-feet of torque gets 57.3 miles per US gallon and takes 11.7 seconds to get from zero to 62 miles per hour. The question is whether Mitsubishi will boost the output of that engine for our market. If not, only the 70-hp Smart ForTwo will have less horsepower - but the Mirage, interestingly enough, weighs about the same as the microcar.
On its UK site, Mitsubishi said the reveal of the Mirage in back 2011 meant "redefining the standards by which to judge a compact passenger car." We can't wait to find out if that's still true and what that means when it gets here. To prepare yourself, there's video of the Mirage in action below.

Mitsubishi Outlander rumored to get Nissan engine, Rogue Sport to get PHEV

A report in the Japanese business daily Nikkei, picked up by Automotive News, said Mitsubishi anticipates using a Nissan engine in the next-generation Outlander headed our way later this year. If the report comes true, the engine swap would be a first for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance partners outside of Japanese kei cars. Mitsubishi engineers will have an easier time slotting in a Nissan engine as the next-gen Outlander gives up its GS platform — an architecture Mitsubishi co-developed with Daimler Chrysler almost 20 years ago — to move to a modified version of the CMF platform that supports the Nissan Rogue and Qashqai, our Rogue Sport.    Last December, Auto Express spoke to Ponz Pandikuthira, NissanÂ’s European vice president of product planning. The exec said Nissan had two hybrid powertrains under consideration for the next-generation Qashqai, the first being Nissan's serial hybrid ePower system that's fared well in Japan where overall speeds are low, but that might not be suited to Europe's higher average speeds. As for a PHEV, Pandikuthira said, "WeÂ’re not pursuing a big plug-in hybrid strategy. On some car lines weÂ’ll try it out, but the business case for plug-in hybrids is not very good." Completing the round-turn, Nikkei said Mitsubishi would supply its PHEV for the compact Nissan, making the Qashqai the car line that gets the tryout. If that happens, and assuming Nissan brings it here, the Rogue Sport would be Nissan's first PHEV in the U.S. Nissan has tended to delay updating the Rogue Sport to Qashqai spec, so depending on when a PHEV version arrives, it could be the only hybrid in Nissan's U.S. fleet since the Rogue Hybrid retired for the 2020 model year.  The platform and engine exchange would have been planned before Nissan's troubles over the past 18 months, but they represent the alliance's growing effort for greater synergy and lower costs. One supposed tactic going forward comes from the Volkswagen Group playbook, identifying a brand's expertise and putting the brand in charge of developing that expertise for the alliance, the same way the Volkswagen brand develops low-cost platforms and Audi runs R&D for the group. We'll know more about plans afoot at the Franco-Japanese trio when the alliance unveils its new midterm business plan perhaps as soon as this month. Related Video:      

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.