Mitsubishi Motors to sell only EVs, hybrids by mid-2030s

TOKYO, March 10 (Reuters) – Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) plans for hybrid and battery electrical autos to account for all new automobile gross sales by the center of the following decade, beefing up its electrification technique for staying aggressive in key markets.

Mitsubishi, which can also be a junior accomplice in an alliance with France’s Renault SA (RENA.PA) and Nissan Motor Co (7201.T), mentioned it can roll out 16 new fashions over the following 5 years.

The Japanese automaker, recognized for its Outlander sport utility automobile, caught to a earlier purpose of getting half of its new automobile gross sales electrified by fiscal 2030 and on Friday newly pledged to boost that additional to 100% by fiscal 2035.

Mitsubishi considers plug-in hybrids (PHEV), hybrid electrical autos and battery electrical autos (BEV) as electrified autos. Electrified autos accounted for about 7% of the corporate’s complete new automobile gross sales in fiscal 2021.

“Amongst our current fashions, we’ll increase the geographical areas the place our flagship PHEV Outlander is being provided and construct out the gross sales of the Minicab-MiEV gentle business EV that was relaunched final 12 months,” Chief Government Takao Kato mentioned.

Among the many 16 new fashions Mitsubishi plans to roll out, one shall be a BEV Renault alliance mannequin, whereas one other shall be a Nissan alliance mannequin, Mitsubishi mentioned in presentation supplies that had been a part of its fiscal 2023-2025 marketing strategy.

Mitsubishi, an early mover in EVs within the early 2010s, presently has no BEVs in its line-up in Europe. Its new BEV for Europe would mark a comeback in a extremely aggressive market the place new entrants equivalent to Tesla have already quickly received market share.

The mannequin might be a variant of the Renault electrical MPV Scenic made in France and anticipated in 2024, or a variant of the Renault electrical metropolis automobiles R5 or R4 anticipated respectively in 2024 and 2025 and in addition made in France, a supply near the matter mentioned.

Mitsubishi Europe declined to touch upon the matter.

Of the opposite 14 fashions Mitsubishi plans to launch, seven shall be purely combustion engine-powered ones, 5 shall be hybrids and the remaining two shall be BEV, the corporate mentioned.

Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Gilles Guillaume; Further reporting by Elaine Lies; Enhancing by Chang-Ran Kim, Shounak Dasgupta and Christina Fincher

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