Mitsubishi Germany - Withdrawal from retreat

The Japanese automaker Mitsubishi relies on its membership in the Renault-Nissan Family so that we can continue to sell cars in Europe. This will bring some new models with Franco-Japanese genes to dealers in the future.

The shock news from distant Japan was as surprising as it was powerful. Mitsubishi announced in July 2020 that the well-known brand will gradually withdraw from Europe and continue the existing sales program small car Space Star, the L 200 pickup or the Outlander SUV will "freeze". In plain language: These models will no longer have a successor. When the last car is sold, the Japanese brand will be a piece of the past in Europe and thus also in Germany's largest Mitsubishi market.

Rescue Renault Mitsubishi

In business life, a foreign company that saves a company that is about to be taken over by a competitor is called a “white knight”. And such a noble rider now ends the dreariness with the three diamonds (the Japanese word “Mitsu” means “three” in German, “bishi” stands for “diamonds”). The rescuer speaks French, is called Luca de Meo and is the boss of Renault. Mitsubishi has been a junior partner in a successful alliance between the French and the Japanese, but much larger, Nissan group since 2016. So far, this has had no noticeable impact on the Mitsubishi brand. This is to change now. Mitsubishi lives on and is looking forward to two new models, the technical basis of which will come from Renault.

The original idea behind the withdrawal plans was that the tens of thousands of homeless Mitsubishi customers in Europe would storm the Renault and Nissan dealerships after their cult brand had come to an end. The new Renault boss Luca de Meo, who moved into his office in Paris almost at the same time as the news from Japan, saw the idea rather skeptically and ordered his managers to turn 180 degrees. The decision not to develop any new models for Europe in Japan will probably remain in place. The company wants to save the high development costs that would be due for the high demands of European customers. Now the vehicles come from Renault and are also built there.

New models are coming

The first French Japanese will share the base with the new Renault Clio, as a still nameless small car in the four-meter class. In the past Mitsubishi was already doing well with the legendary "Colt". The second novelty is a smaller SUV, the genes of which are likely to come from the Renault Captur. Both models should be technically similar to the Renault models, but still be recognizable to customers as "real" Mitsubishis. The German Mitsubishi boss Werner Frey refers to the promise of the Renault management that the vehicles with the three diamonds will differentiate themselves through “clear design language” and real “Mitsubishi DNA”. 

However, with small cars and city SUVs, the close cooperation is only about to begin, even if everyone involved is still keeping a low profile: a “Japanese” version of the Zoe electric car is also conceivable in the future. The same goes for a possible return to the golf class. The Renault Megane would be available as a gene donor.

Does the cooperation between Mitsubishi and Renault make sense?

But the brand should remain a bit Japanese. The Eclipse Cross Plug-in-Hybrid was supposed to be the last new model from the Far East, but after its market launch at the beginning of this year it has proven to be a huge success for the German branch. Chef Werner Frey had to fight for a long time to export the new Eclipse to Germany, but he also had the support of “Big Brother” from France. The successful persistence towards the European-weary Japanese arouses another German desire.

The object of desire is the fourth generation of the 4,71 meter long SUV called Outlander. It shares the platform with the Nissan X-Trail but is currently only sold in the US. Thanks to the hybrid socket, it can drive almost 90 kilometers purely electrically, almost twice as far as the third generation of the Outlander, which is still available from us.

The Japanese have not yet heard Werner Frey's pleading, so they seem to insist on the decision to withdraw. Since a large SUV is also missing from Renault's program, a Franco-German joint campaign could make the Outlander an “Inlander” for Europe, with a Renault diamond and Mitsubishi diamonds. A lot is possible in the crazy interwoven global automotive landscape.