Mitsubishi Outlander News

Mitsubishi Australia has confirmed the plug-in hybrid Outlander will follow its petrol-only sibling with the update revealed earlier this year.The 2026 Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid (PHEV) will arrive in the first quarter of 2026 and will gain improved tech, features and an updated look.While pricing and some more specifications are yet to be confirmed for the plug-in family SUV, Mitsubishi has confirmed the key changes and the model line-up outline.Headlining changes is a larger battery, now 22.78kWh up from 20.0kWh. Claimed electric range has only improved by 2km on paper to 86km up from 84km before.The good news is its claimed EV range is now under WLTP testing, which returns more accurate results than lenient NEDC testing. In reality the new 86km range is more likely to be achieved.It retains its 2.4-litre four-cylinder petrol engine, joined by an electric motor at each axle, though Mitsubishi hasn’t confirmed yet if there are any changes to the total 185kW/450Nm output for the Outlander PHEV.Its ride and handling had been updated with the petrol variant, carrying over to the PHEV along with changes to reduce the effects of NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) such as a new new steel bonnet, front fenders, and a ‘Dynamic Sound Yamaha Premium’ audio system from the entry-grade ES.While more details are yet to come, Mitsubishi says the ES will be joined by the Aspire, Exceed and Exceed Tourer variants. There’s no word yet on the GSR, which is currently available.The ES won’t be available with seven seats, but will have a large 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen, LED interior lighting, surround-view parking cameras, a driver monitoring system, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and a host of safety kit.The Aspire can be had with seven seats, plus gains synthetic leather, heated seats and a wireless phone charger. The Exceed gains proper leather upholstery and seat ventilation, whole the Exceed Tourer adds a 12-speaker Yamaha sound system, massage seats, and improved ‘Brick Brown’ leather.

Mitsubishi has quietly increased the price of its Outlander SUV and Triton ute without updating the models, but it’s all normal business according to the brand.CarsGuide spotted the small price increase recently applied to Mitsubishi’s two most popular models.The Outlander’s price has increased by $750 across all grades apart from the entry-level ES - which retains its $39,990 list price.Prices for the Triton’s 4x2 line-up have gone up by $250 for the GLX single-cab which now lists for $34,740 and $400 for the GLX dual-cab at $44,090. Meanwhile, the 4x4 Triton range has seen increases of between $250 to $750 for all grades apart from the top-of-the-range GSR dual-cab pick-up which is now $1450 pricier and lists for $64,590. Despite the increase in price neither the Outlander nor Triton come with any change of specification. Mitsubishi told CarsGuide the price increase was part of business.“The changes were part of the ongoing price assessment, taking into account market fluctuations, exchange rates and other factors,” a Mitsubishi spokesperson said.While the Outlander’s latest price increase may not correspond to any increase in value, it should be noted the SUV underwent a significant update in April and July this year. The upgrades brought new styling inside and out, also adding extra safety tech which ensured it maintained its maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it was assessed in September.Safety upgrades to the Triton also meant the ute was able to retain its five star ANCAP rating when it was tested in May this year.The Triton and Outlander are by far the best-selling models for Mitsubishi in Australia. Total 2024 sales of both came to 45,690 units, accounting for more than half the sales of all the brand’s models.

Mitsubishi reveals a quad-motor three-row SUV in concept form at the Tokyo motor show.

The updated version of Mitsubishi’s Outlander plug-in hybrid will finally land in Australian showrooms in early 2026.

Mitsubishi teases new vehicle launches overseas with one being an overhauled Outlander with more off-road abilities.

With the first quarter of this century already over, we take a look back at the biggest mistakes made by car makers in Australia over the past 25 years.

A best-selling SUV and van have retained their five-star Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) safety rating.

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.