Tag Archives: Mitsubishi

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Mitsubishi Outlander and Outlander PHEV Take Home 2026 Family Green Car of the Year

Mitsubishi just pulled off something no automaker has managed in the 21-year history of Green Car Journal’s awards program: taking the top prize with not one, but two versions of the same nameplate. The 2026 Outlander and its electrified sibling, the Outlander Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), have been co-named Family Green Car of the Year.

The win is particularly sweet for Mitsubishi Motors North America. The Outlander PHEV has now scored the honor four years running, but this marks the first time a conventional Outlander model has joined the winner’s circle.

A Dual Approach to Green Driving

Green Car Journal credits Mitsubishi’s two-pronged strategy—an upgraded plug-in hybrid alongside a new mild-hybrid variant—as the deciding factor. “Adding a mild-hybrid powertrain in the Outlander is viewed as an important evolutionary step toward improving efficiency and decreasing carbon emissions,” said Ron Cogan, the magazine’s editor and publisher.

The 2026 Outlander PHEV benefits from a larger battery with extended all-electric range, refreshed styling inside and out, improved suspension tuning, and a Yamaha-branded audio system. The standard Outlander, meanwhile, adopts a mild-hybrid setup, a first for the model in North America.

Current Benchmarks and What’s Coming

Today’s 2025 Outlander PHEV already offers 38 miles of EV range and a combined 420 miles when gas and electric power are working together. It also recently gained sharper dynamics and sleeker styling. Both the current and forthcoming models ride on Mitsubishi’s Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC), the brand’s torque-vectoring AWD system designed to keep the family SUV sure-footed in all conditions.

The new mild-hybrid Outlander and updated PHEV will launch in the coming months, expanding Mitsubishi’s electrified lineup and giving families more options to dip into green driving without having to compromise on practicality.

A Step Toward Momentum 2030

Mark Chaffin, Mitsubishi Motors North America’s president and CEO, framed the award as validation of the brand’s long-term plan. “As part of our Momentum 2030 plan, where we promised a new or revised vehicle each year from now until 2030, we strive to develop environmentally friendly innovations that balance sustainability with the real-world needs of drivers and families,” Chaffin said.

That strategy is paying off. The Outlander twins’ recognition underscores how mainstream automakers are evolving their family haulers—SUVs that don’t just check boxes for space and safety but now also carry significant green cred.

Warranty Confidence

As with every Mitsubishi, both models will come with one of the longest warranties in the industry: a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty, plus a 5-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper limited warranty, corrosion protection, roadside assistance, and two years of complimentary maintenance.

Why It Matters

In a crowded SUV market, Mitsubishi’s bet is that families want flexibility as much as efficiency. Offering both a mild-hybrid and a plug-in hybrid under the same nameplate could be the brand’s smartest play yet—one that not only sets a precedent in the green car awards world, but also in the driveways of buyers looking for sustainable choices that don’t force a compromise.

Source: Mitsubishi

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Mitsubishi Hands the Keys to the Next Generation of Tennessee’s Drivers

In an age when most school budgets couldn’t stretch to a new set of pencils, Rutherford County Schools in Tennessee has managed something extraordinary: keeping driver’s education alive. And not just alive, but positively humming with a pair of brand-new Mitsubishis—because nothing says “welcome to the open road” like the smell of factory-fresh upholstery and a touchscreen you don’t understand.

Enter stage left: City Auto Mitsubishi of Murfreesboro, partnering with Mitsubishi Motors North America. Between them, they’ve just handed over two SUVs—a 2024 Outlander Sport and a 2024 Eclipse Cross—to the school district. Not demo cars, not dusty old fleet vehicles, but showroom-shiny, still-glittering-with-dealer-wax machines.

The purpose? To give tomorrow’s drivers the tools—and the safety tech—to start their motoring lives in something far more forgiving than Grandpa’s rusting pickup.

City Auto’s general manager Jordan Norton said it best: “This donation is a gift to the whole community.” Translation: if the kids are better behind the wheel, there’s less chance of them rear-ending you at the lights. Practical altruism at its finest.

What makes this story unusual is that most school districts across America have quietly euthanized driver training, slashed by the guillotine of budget cuts. Rutherford, though, has fought tooth and nail to keep the program. With over $60,000 raised for simulators and corporate donations flowing in, the district is essentially running a motoring academy on a shoestring. And now, with two fresh Mitsubishis in the car park, students will learn lane discipline in something that doesn’t rattle itself apart at 40 mph.

And it’s not just about the cars. Mitsubishi’s wider “Driving Confidence – Driving Community” program is part CSR initiative, part stealthy PR masterstroke. Over the past few years, they’ve been doling out Community Utility Vehicles (CUVs) like sweets at Halloween—from Nashville charities to Las Vegas non-profits. But this one feels especially apt. Because if you’re going to build lifelong customers, start when they’re 16, fumbling for the clutch, and praying the parallel park doesn’t take out a mailbox.

Dr. Jimmy Sullivan, Director of Schools, put it rather nobly: “This partnership is a shining example of how community partners support student learning with real-world application.” Which, in Top Gear translation, means: “Thank heavens somebody’s helping us keep this show on the road.”

So here’s the headline: while much of the country is letting kids loose onto highways armed with little more than YouTube tutorials and misplaced confidence, Tennessee teens are sliding behind the wheel of a brand-new Mitsubishi—complete with airbags, ABS, and possibly a fighting chance of survival.

And that, frankly, is a win for everyone.

Source: Mitsubishi

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Mitsubishi Charts Its Comeback with Momentum 2030—and a Mall-Based Dealership

Mitsubishi Motors has been a quiet player in the U.S. market for the better part of two decades. Once remembered for rally-bred icons like the Lancer Evolution and Eclipse, the brand has since shrunk into a lean lineup led by the Outlander crossover and its plug-in hybrid sibling. But Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) says that’s about to change.

In May 2024, the company announced Momentum 2030, a North America–focused five-year roadmap that stretches to the end of the decade. The plan is ambitious—touching product, technology, retail, and dealer network expansion—with the stated goal of putting more Mitsubishis in more driveways across the U.S.

Four Roads, One Destination

At the core of Momentum 2030 are four promises:

  1. A path to electrification.
  2. A refreshed and expanded product lineup.
  3. A modernized retail sales model.
  4. A bigger dealer footprint in more markets.

Those sound like corporate buzzwords until you dig into the details—particularly point three, which might be the boldest swing Mitsubishi has taken in years.

Meet the “Gallery” Dealership

Instead of doubling down on traditional showrooms in suburban auto rows, Mitsubishi plans to meet customers where they already are: shopping centers, mixed-use developments, and high-traffic retail corridors.

The first Gallery dealership will open in Antioch, Tennessee, in early 2026 at Century Farms, a 300-acre development that already hosts a Tanger Outlet mall and the Nashville SC practice facility. The idea is simple: make car shopping feel less like a sales gauntlet and more like a lifestyle encounter.

Think airy showrooms, product specialists instead of commission-driven salespeople, and no giant lots packed with cars. Vehicles will be stored off-site at a partner dealership and delivered as needed. If this sounds familiar, that’s because luxury brands like Tesla, Genesis, and Polestar have already leaned into this retail-lite model. But Mitsubishi will be the first non-luxury, mass-market brand to try it at scale.

“Mitsubishi Motors is on the cusp of a full brand-wide reinvention,” said Mark Chaffin, MMNA’s president and CEO. “One of our strengths is that we are small and nimble. But our small dealer network across the U.S. limits our ability to grow our share and sales volume.”

That limited footprint has long been Mitsubishi’s Achilles’ heel. Today, the brand is represented in only about a third of U.S. new-car markets. By 2030, Chaffin wants that number north of 50 percent. The Gallery program, he says, is a key step.

Cars Are Coming Too

Of course, a dealership strategy means nothing without fresh metal to showcase. Mitsubishi promises plenty of that as part of Momentum 2030:

  • 2026 Outlander mild hybrid to slot below the PHEV.
  • Updated 2026 Outlander Plug-in Hybrid with improved range and tech.
  • All-new battery electric vehicle in summer 2026.
  • A jointly developed SUV with Nissan, built in a U.S. Nissan plant.

For a brand whose lineup has grown stale and small, this infusion of product could be just what’s needed to stay relevant—especially as competitors flood the compact and midsize crossover markets with electrified options.

Still Betting on Value

Mitsubishi continues to push its strongest selling point: peace of mind at a bargain. Every model comes with a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty, a five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, corrosion protection, roadside assistance, and even a two-year/30,000-mile maintenance program. That’s an unusually rich package in a world where most automakers are trimming coverage, not expanding it.

Can It Work?

The Gallery concept is smart, but execution will be everything. Customers already comfortable buying cars online may not need a mall-based Mitsubishi boutique to sway them. And while the strategy feels fresh for a mainstream automaker, the brand’s success hinges on whether the upcoming EV and SUVs can deliver enough substance to compete in a brutally crowded field.

Still, Mitsubishi’s small size could indeed be its greatest asset. With the ability to pivot quickly—and now with Nissan partnership resources—the company might just carve out a sustainable niche in the U.S.

Momentum 2030 is a bet that visibility and modern retailing can help Mitsubishi claw back market share. Come 2026, shoppers in Antioch might be grabbing a burger, browsing outlet stores, and—if Mitsubishi gets its way—signing papers on a new Outlander all in the same trip.

Source: Mitsubishi