Mitsubishi ASX News

Here's everything we know about Mitsubishi's upcoming next-generation ASX.

Mitsubishi’s new ASX is headed to showrooms soon, but it's missing something important.

Mitsubishi warns it can't chase Chinese brands on price, and there are other factors buyers should consider.

Mitsubishi warns there's a big market correction coming, and automakers have to act to survive.

Mitsubishi's CEO, Shaun Westcott, explained the effect he thinks Australia’s tough new emissions laws will have on the new car market, and why Mitsubishi will continue to stick with its PHEV-heavy strategy.Westcott said there are still significant hurdles to overcome for electric cars despite the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) coming into effect.“Just penalising us is not going to deliver the outcomes we need. The original thinking was that if you penalised us, we’d bring more EVs to the market.”“There’s no shortage of choice, what we lack is positive initiatives. You can give us as many sticks as you like, we need some carrots.”“The bigger challenge with adoption is that we need to have a government which considers the peculiarities of the Australian market. We’re not Norway. We’re not a small country. We don’t have cities that are 40 kilometres apart.”He said even with advancements in battery technology, which may result in vehicles able to travel between Sydney and Melbourne on a single charge, having infrastructure sufficient for the cities was an ongoing issue.“As we sit here today, Adelaide has 52 public fast chargers. 52 for a city of one and a half million people!”Westcott added if Mitsubishi’s number crunching was reflective of the wider market, price hikes could be headed for most brands as they try to keep up with the regulations which have effectively moved Australia from the emissions environment of the 1980s to the strict nature of Euro 6 overnight.He said despite the abundance of options, even at lower price points, Australian consumers still preferred combustion engines overall, which will cause a problem for many manufacturers, and soon.“I think the reality we’re looking at today is a lot of brands have dialled back their EV ambitions because they’ve realised that just bringing the cars to the market, you can fill your showroom with EVs but if nobody buys them you’d have to discount those cars to a point where they will be below the cost of production and that’s happening already just to get people to take them," said Westcott.“OEMs realise that to stay alive you have to sell cars - if Australians aren’t buying the EVs then we have to bring combustion and all the other powertrains to market and that will continue to happen despite the penalties because if the demand isn’t there, you haven’t got a business. It’s simple economics.“Every brand has to cover the cost of those penalties to survive and if customers are only buying single digit (percentages) of EVs - everyone is going to be copping penalties,” he said.Westcott still backs PHEVs in the short term.“We believe this is the correct transition technology. Our customers use their car in pure EV mode 83 per cent of the time," said Westcott.“ our customers have reduced emissions by 83 per cent right here, right now, today, with zero investment in infrastructure.“And if I wanted to do a trip to Melbourne, or Sydney, or across the Nullabor to Perth. It doesn’t matter, the car can do it.”Westcott was also blunt about how he sees the choice to remove the fringe benefits tax exemption, which (along with the original EV exemption) caused a spike in interest for PHEV models, was a political error when it comes to emissions reduction.“Stopping the FBT exemption on PHEVs was a mistake - Look what it did! PHEV Outlander was 20 - 25 per cent of the mix, it worked. It comes back to the carrots and the sticks. If we had a few more carrots it works. Lets do it.”It’s worth noting Mitsubishi has everything to gain by such changes. It currently doesn’t field a fully electric vehicle, with plans to bring in the eK X electric city car shelved after a brief local evaluation program.Plus, some manufacturers with diverse offerings in their line-ups have spoken out in favour of the NVES, as models they currently import from Europe or China already comply with even more stringent regimes in their respective home markets.Chinese manufacturers, meanwhile, are squeezing Mitsubishi on its plug-in hybrid home turf with unprecedented price-tags attached to incoming versions of the Chery Tiggo 7 and Tiggo 8 PHEV competing on price with combustion Outlanders and undercutting Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV by a significant margin.Mitsubishi isn’t alone though. Japanese manufacturers seem to be in particular trouble, as they struggle to adjust to a regulatory environment much more hostile to their historically popular nameplates. Subaru, Isuzu, Mazda, and to some extent, even Toyota will have work to do in the coming years if they want to avoid painful fines under the new laws.

Chinese carmaker Jaecoo has confirmed its J5 small SUV will go on sale in the United Kingdom paving the way for the small SUV’s entrance to Australia.The J5 looks very much like the J7 mid-sized SUV only smaller, measuring 4.3m in length, and rivalling the Kia Seltos, Mitsubishi ASX and Mazda CX-30.The J5 will debut in the UK with a 1.6-litre turbo-petrol engine and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.In the UK the five-seater SUV will go on sale in two trim levels: the Pure and the Luxury.Coming standard on the Pure will be a six-speaker stereo, power adjustable front seats and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Stepping up to the Luxury will add a panoramic sunroof, heated and ventilated front seats and wireless phone charging.Jaecoo is the luxury-focussed sub-brand of Chery and currently has two SUVs on sale in Australia - the mid-sized J7 and the J8 large SUV.The J5 will definitely be making its way to Australia as well, but as to when this will happen is unknown. Recently Jaecoo Australia’s Chief Commercial Officer, Roy Munoz, confirmed the J5 is headed to Australia to CarsGuide, but didn't reveal timing.Pricing for the J5 hasn't been announced in the UK nor Australia, but buyers can be certain it will be less than the J7 and the J8.As a guide the J7 starts at $34,990 drive-away and the entry grade J8 is $49,990.Jaecoo doesn't have any electric vehicles on sale currently in Australia with both the J7 and J8 using petrol engines, but the J7 is also available with plug-in hybrid power.Jaecoo is a very new brand to Australia having only arrived in May this year and follows its parent company Chery, which launched its vehicles here in 2023.Currently Chery has several models on sale in Australia including the petrol powered C5 small SUV and its E5 electric twin, while there’s three hybrid SUVs also available: the small Tiggo 4, the mid-sized Tiggo 7 and the large Tiggo 8. 

Which Mitsubishi do you wish would make a comeback? Pajero? Lancer?  Well, Mitsubishi is currently undertaking a massive overhaul of its Australian line-up with several new models to come to fill the gaps. So while they're at it we’ve put together our wishlist of cars they really should really revive or bring here. The changes to the Australian Design rules (ADRs) in March this year meant Mitsubishi had to axe three vehicles from its local lineup.  These were the ASX small SUV, the bigger Eclipse Cross SUV and the Pajero Sport off-roader. This leaves Mitsubishi with just two cars on sale in Australia — the Triton ute and Outlander mid-sized SUV. Meanwhile Toyota has 23 models on sale.Now we're not suggesting that Mitsubishi needs another 21 models, Ford is managing just fine on pretty much the Ranger, Everest and Mustang, but I definitely think there are some essentials the brand could use and a few dream cars while we're at it.Probably the most obvious model Mitsubishi needs right now is the Pajero. Yep once-upon-a-1990s the Toyota Prado and Mitsubishi Pajero wrestled for dominance all over Australia, from the outback to suburbia. The Pajero eventually lost the battle and was axed by Mitsubishi in 2020 … or so we thought! Imagine the comeback. Just when the new generation Prado had arrived and was still gloating, the Pajero could make its return. Sure the Pajero Sport is coming back in 2026, but that’s a Ford Everest rival. The beauty is Mitsubishi could easily plonk another, posher-looking SUV body on the ladder frame and call it the Pajero. And they’ve already got the badges made up. You just just take the “Sport” bit off. Think of the savings.Next on our wish list is not really a car that would sell in high numbers, but it'd be the halo car in many ways the brand needs so badly right now —  a reborn Lancer, and yes, with an Evolution grade as well. Or maybe just a standalone Lancer Evo XI. I think we’re up to XI, I can't remember but I tested the very final one in 2015.Back in the final glory days of Ford Falcon versus Holden Commodore there were two other tribes going to war: Subaru WRX v Mitsubishi Lancer Evo. These days the WRX lives on, but it looks so lonely without the Lancer EVO to play with.Finally, and given the number of grey imports we see of this car, Mitsubishi needs to add the Delica people mover to its Aussie line-up. What’s not to like about a high-riding all-wheel drive six-seater van?A sixth-generation of the people mover is expected in the next two years and whether it looks anything like the futuristic and silly Delica concept Mitsubishi revealed at the 2023 Tokyo Motorshow is yet to be seen.A wishlist for Mitsubishi could go one forever, who wouldn’t want to see the Colt come back, or the Cordia Turbo? Or the 3000GT?In reality the ASX will be back and so too will the Pajero Sport, and that might be all Mitsubishi needs as it faces bigger problems.  Challenges like how on Earth will it adapt to a rapidly changing market that’s been inundated with excellent electric vehicles from brands which hardly existed five years ago. Currently Mitsubishi doesn’t even sell one purely electric vehicle in Australia at all.

Mitsubishi fully details the hybrid ASX successor which may never see Australian shores.

Mitsubishi has revealed its next new small SUV model, the Grandis, which will sit above the ASX but below the Outlander in its international line-up, offering both mild and full hybrid drivetrain options.

After 15 years on sale the current Mitsubishi ASX is headed for retirement.Mitsubishi Australia has been searching for a replacement for its ageing small SUV, and has found it in the form of the new ASX available in Europe that is based on the Renault Captur.The writing was on the wall of the current ASX with changes to Australian Design Rules (ADRs) from March 1 this year meant it needed expensive upgrades to its auto emergency braking technology. The sums didn’t add up and the Captur-based alternative became the go-to option.The same issues has resulted in the ending of the current Eclipse Cross compact SUV, and Pajero Sport off-roader.Production has already wound up, but Mitsubishi has secured enough stock to see the brand through most of 2025 according to Mitsubishi Australia boss Shaun Westcott.The new ASX is going to spearhead a massive range overhaul for Mitsubishi as part of its Momentum 2030 plan, said Westcott.“We have a lot of good product coming, there are a number of significant new models and products in that plan. So we are actually quite excited about the next couple of years.”“The new Mitsubishi ASX blends thoroughly modern design and a dynamic driving experience to the next generation of ASX customers,” said Westcott.“We look forward to sharing more details of this intriguing new SUV as we move closer to its market launch in 2025,” he said.The update brings significant upgrades to the fast-selling small SUV.Mitsubishi Australia hasn’t confirmed the model line-up, but in Europe the vehicle comes with the choice of hybrid, mild hybrid or petrol power.The hybrid variant uses a 1.6-litre petrol engine paired with two electric motors — one for the alternator-starter and the other to drive the wheels — to make 143kW and drink about 4.7L/100km.Importantly, emissions are about 106 grams of CO2 every km, which is well below the threshold set by the federal government’s New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) that came into effect this year.The NVES will penalise carmakers $100 for every gram of CO2, per vehicle, a car emits over a certain threshold. This threshold lowers every year until 2030.Its hybrid set-up is likely to bring improved responsiveness and polish to its performance compared to the 2.0-litre unit found in the current versions. Fuel use is a massive drop from the current model’s claimed 7.6L/100km.The mild-hybrid version uses a 1.3-litre turbocharged engine with a small electric motor to power the started motor and some electric systems. It drinks 5.9L/100km and emits 134g/km of CO2 and is unlikely to be a long term solution to NVES.The other option is a 1.0-litre turbo-petrol engine that makes 91kW, drinks 5.9L/100km and emits 134g/km of CO2.It’ll also have improved in-car tech and safety equipment and thoroughly modern styling compared to the outgoing version.It is unlikely the European-sourced and hybrid-powered ASX will remain the same price leader the current ASX has been in the company’s showrooms.Westcott said the brand’s products are more than just a sticker price with the total value Mitsubishi provides in its products an important factor.“So part of the strategy we have is to demonstrate the value that you get in our product,” said Westcott.“We want to definitely make sure that people understand that we are a value for money brand, and that value is more than just price."That’s the quality of the build, the quality of the products, the reliability of the products and that’s where we are going to focus," he said.Westcott also pointed to the brand’s 10-year warranty and capped price servicing program and that it has the second largest dealer network in the country, which adds value and reassurance for customers.