Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV – US debut delayed to 2015

mitsubishi outlander phev 01

Mitsubishi has announced that the US market debut of its Outlander plug-in hybrid has been pushed back to 2015, the delay being brought about by snags that affected battery production last year. The automaker had earlier stated that it was postponing shipments to North America and would focus on delivering orders from Japan and Europe as a result of this.

Shortly after the SUV made its Japanese market debut last January, a lithium-ion battery short-circuited in a vehicle before it was delivered. An internal investigation found that batteries which had been improperly dropped as part of the screening process had found their way into the final supply stream from maker Lithium Energy Japan (LEJ).

Mitsubishi suspended production and shipments of the Outlander PHEV from March until the end of August. Production resumed at a rate of 2,000 units a month, and has now climbed to 4,000 units a month. Reports indicate that this will increase to 5,000 a month in April as LEJ is set to further increase production capability of its battery packs.

mitsubishi outlander phev 02

While production capacity will be 60,000 units a year, the five-month long delay in 2013 production means that much of the build was to offset back orders for the SUV, which stood at around 18,000 units in August last year.

In March last year, Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia announced that it would be launching the Outlander PHEV at the end of 2013 – the production issue put paid to that. Word is that we can expect to see the SUV arrive here in 2015.

The five-seater is powered by a combination of a 2.0 litre MIVEC Generator petrol unit offering 94 hp and a Twin Motor 4WD system comprising two independent 60 kW electric motors driving both front and rear wheels. The vehicle has a cruising range in excess of 880 km.

We’ve test driven the Outlander PHEV in Japan – read the review here.

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Anthony Lim

Anthony Lim believes that nothing is better than a good smoke and a car with character, with good handling aspects being top of the prize heap. Having spent more than a decade and a half with an English tabloid daily never being able to grasp the meaning of brevity or being succinct, he wags his tail furiously at the idea of waffling - in greater detail - about cars and all their intrinsic peculiarities here.

 

Comments

  • EnergyAnalyst on Jan 04, 2014 at 8:38 am

    It is alarming to read such revelation—that the EV and Plug in hybrid EV supply is so dependable on the battery supplier

    If you read this together with what is happening to Fisker,.. It seemed to suggest the future belongs to battery maker

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • EnergyAnalyst on Jan 04, 2014 at 11:06 am

    Very often, One have to wait a bit for good thing in life – like this PHEV SUV from Mitsubishi

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Unforgiven on Jan 05, 2014 at 12:18 am

    Off R topic: The r&d for this previous gen Honda was started at least 10 years ago, probably year 2003 technology. I cannot understand how the PM is proud of it, except for 1 thing, free money into the pocket system, buying the junk/rubbish/old machines from Jap, with multi millions/b, a system/process to channel money to the cronies/com. Beautiful sweet deal without much afford and knowledge. The down side is still higher car prices for the rakyat/people. Please be real and look at things in global perspective now, this is very sad only!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 1
 

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