Mitsubishi's electric Outlander

By Sam Hardy

30th September 2009

Take a look at Mitsubishi's electric future! The firm will be revealing two plug-in concepts at the Tokyo Motor Show later this month – and they'll both go on sale next year.

Based on the Outlander SUV, the PX-MiEV gets Mitsubishi's latest plug-in hybrid system, which enables longer periods of driving solely powered by electricity. So much so that Mitsubishi claims it'll return over 117mpg.

It distributes power to all four wheels by means of differential motors and S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control). Along with E-AYC (Electric-powered Active Yaw Control) it can transfer torque to the rear left and right wheels.

Mitsubishi's second concept is the i-MiEV Cargo – essentially an electric plug-in version of the 'i' with a lot of extra rear space. The luggage area features space-efficient cubic dimensions which, says Mitsubishi, "allows owners to exercise their imagination fully in adapting it for whatever use they choose – whether for business use, where maximum payload space is required, to leisure and other individual owner uses".

Both models go on sale in Japan in April next year. Expect to see them in Europe in 2011.