Mitsubishi ASX, Outlander hybrid SUVs in development, and the ASX may not be a Renault – report

Mitsubishi is reportedly working on a pair of hybrid SUVs, which will enter production as early as 2028.

Nikkei Asia reports they’ll be based on the Outlander currently produced in Japan, as well as the RVR. The latter is the name used in Japan for the first-generation ASX, which was replaced here last year by a lightly restyled Renault Captur.

If the first-generation ASX was a person, it would be old enough to vote come 2028, suggesting Mitsubishi is working on a replacement model. The old ASX is offered in a diminishing number of markets, including the US, and is no longer sold in Japan.

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The new Outlander and RVR/ASX hybrids will be the first Mitsubishi models developed in-house with hybrid power that aren’t tiny kei cars.

Despite markets like Australia and the US clamouring for hybrid SUVs, Mitsubishi has some major gaps in its lineup it has yet to fill – and a goal for hybrids, plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and electric vehicles (EVs) to account for 50 per cent of its global sales by 2030.

Mitsubishi has offered hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions of the European ASX, but never in key markets like Japan, Australia, Southeast Asia and North America.

It does also have a small hybrid SUV in Southeast Asia, the Xforce launched in 2024, but this is only sold in a small handful of markets outside of this region.

Japan and Australia miss out, with Mitsubishi Motors Australia having confirmed previously that the Xforce isn’t compliant with local regulations.

The company offered PHEVs long before most automakers, but Nikkei Asia reports high prices for its Outlander PHEV have limited its appeal in Japan.

It has never had a conventional hybrid Outlander, despite Alliance partners Renault and Nissan offering hybrids, though it does offer the PHEV plus a mild-hybrid turbocharged 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol powertrain in markets such as the US.

The current Outlander entered production in 2021, which means it will be seven years old by the time this hybrid option arrives. That suggests it may not appear until the next generation of the popular mid-size SUV.

With hybrid passenger cars also reportedly accounting for 1.53 million sales in the Japanese market – compared to fewer than 50,000 sales each for PHEVs and EVs – Mitsubishi reportedly doesn’t want to be left further behind.

Hybrid sales also continue to boom in markets like the US and Australia, though it’s unclear at this stage which markets the new Outlander and ASX hybrids will be exported to.

Mitsubishi is facing headwinds in markets like Southeast Asia and Australia, where Chinese brands are making serious inroads.

With profits declining in Southeast Asia – from 63.6 billion yen in fiscal year 2019 to 19.8 billion yen in fiscal year 2024 – that has reportedly made Mitsubishi more reliant on the US market in recent years, but it has now been impacted by tariffs that are eroding the automaker’s profitability there.

Now, there’s a greater focus on the Japanese market, in which Mitsubishi holds a share of just over two per cent.

Mitsubishi delivered just 117,874 vehicles there in 2025 per data published by Nippon.com, down 1.3 per cent year-on-year and only narrowly ahead of Subaru (111,297), and well below every other mainstream Japanese auto brand.

In Australia, Mitsubishi suffered an even bigger sales slide last year, dropping 17.9 per cent year-on-year to 61,198 units.

New Australian regulations forced Mitsubishi to cease imports of the Eclipse Cross and Pajero Sport, with the impacted ASX replaced by the Spanish-sourced, Renault-based second-generation ASX.

Mitsubishi nevertheless held onto sixth place overall in the 2025 new-car market, but to the end of April it’s currently sitting in eighth position this year, having been overtaken by Chinese brands BYD and GWM.

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