- Mitsubishi CEO says it may well’t afford an enormous funding in EVs.
- It is going to collaborate relatively than construct from the bottom up.
- Foxconn is constructing one other EV for Mitsubishi.
Creating a brand new car from the bottom up prices some huge cash, cash that Mitsubishi doesn’t have. That is evident by wanting on the firm’s newest mannequin, the Eclipse Sportback, which is basically a rebadged model of the Nissan Leaf electrical car.
Mitsubishi’s CEO was open about why the corporate is not going all-in on growing new EVs throughout the firm’s shareholder assembly on June 18. As initially reported by Automotive Information, Takao Kato mentioned:
‘The fact is that [EV] progress has been slowing down globally. For now, our method is to handle this by way of collaboration.’
Kato-san defined to shareholders that constructing a bespoke EV for Mitsubishi would require a “large funding” and if the corporate was compelled to incur vital losses because of lower-than-predicted gross sales, it will “pose a serious administration downside.”
2027 Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback
Picture by: Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Is not The Solely One
Fellow Japanese automaker Honda not too long ago opted to scrap its upcoming 0 Series EVs simply earlier than they had been set to launch, incurring practically $16 billion in restructuring prices. Such a transfer can be way more disastrous for Mitsubishi, which offered 883,828 automobiles in 2025 in comparison with Honda’s 3,396,057.
Mitsubishi will announce one other EV later this yr, constructed by Foxconn in Taiwan. It is unlikely that this car shall be offered in the USA, and will probably be exported to close by markets like Japan and Australia. Mitsubishi at present sells an EV that uses the Eclipse Cross name, however just like the Eclipse Sportback, it’s a rebadged mannequin primarily based on the Renault Scenic E-Tech.
Regardless of being one of many first automakers to supply an EV again in 2009 with the i-MiEV, the car was by no means given a second era, and none of Mitsubishi’s different small EVs from the Japanese market had been ever introduced stateside. As an alternative, the corporate has relied on the Rogue-based Outlander and the Outlander PHEV, which not too long ago bought its personal reverse rebadge job from Nissan referred to as the Rogue PHEV.
Motor1’s Take: Rebadged automobiles will not be essentially the most thrilling new merchandise, however they assist an automaker like Mitsubishi compete in a brand new section with out a large funding. The Eclipse Sportback additionally provides yet one more inexpensive EV in a market that’s devoid of significant choices, so having yet one more to select from, even when it is technically a reproduction, will not be one thing to frown upon.
