It’s been a strange past decade for Mitsubishi, one of rebuilding and one of leaning on a little bit of allied help. In North America, it’s quite obvious the Outlander is a close sibling of the Nissan Rogue. In Europe, it’s even more obvious that a whole bunch of Mitsubishi-branded models are actually thinly disguised Renaults. While it’s great to see new metal and the cars themselves seem solid, when will more of the new Mitsubishis be Mitsubishis?
Soon, potentially. This is the Mitsubishi Elevance concept which made its debut at the Japan Mobility Show and it’s actually kind of astounding. Alright, it looks like someone put the wrong doors on it at first glance, but almost all the black on the doors isn’t painted, it’s glass. That’s the sort of concept car thing we love to see, as is the operation of the rear coach doors. Classy.
Underneath its skin, the Elevance purports to be a plug-in hybrid, which isn’t unusual for Mitsubishi. What is unusual is its quad-motor all-wheel-drive setup. Where did Mitsubishi put the motors? In the wheels, interestingly enough. I guess unsprung weight doesn’t matter a whole lot on three-row SUVs, and there are definitely some packaging benefits to putting the motors in the hubs rather than under the floor. Benefits like a low, flat floor that allows for long-slide seats, proper concept car loungers. Three rows of them!
Speaking of the interior, there’s some weirdness going on with the front seats. Mitsubishi seems to depict them as reversible, rotating around for conversation, but with the tight-fitting console, how does that work? I mean, it’s a show car so it doesn’t have to, but yeah. Mind you, the dashboard itself is interesting because it’s actually not that wild beyond the floor-hinged brake pedal and immaculately finished unifootwell.
The pillar-to-pillar screens, minimalist climate control panel, and the rotary controller in the center console are all things we’ve seen on other production cars, enough to get the hopes up. Alright, the screen in the middle of the steering wheel probably won’t fly, but that’s the sort of concept car stuff that will inevitably stripped away, should the Elevance go on to preview a new Montero or something.
So what about that trailer? Well, it looks flat-pack, but Mitsubishi claims it can do more than just haul stuff. As the automaker wrote, “Equipped with a kitchen and shower enclosure, these features can be powered by the PHEV system to provide overnight comfort – transforming the experience into a refined glamping-style excursion.” Do we get any photos of the kitchen? No, but considering how the camp kitchen is a fan favorite on the Rivian R1T, it makes sense that Mitsubishi is doing something here.
While the Mitsubishi Elevance is definitely a concept car, it’s proof that Mitsubishi’s working on something cool. Pairing quad-motor torque-vectoring all-wheel-drive with a range-extender backup sounds like the best of all worlds for getting way out there, and it sounds like the three-water chestnut brand is working on something that could fight Scout and Rivian.
Top graphic image: Mitsubishi
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