Mitsubishi Turning Away from Nissan for Next Outlander
The Mitsubishi Outlander, as we know it today, is about to change radically. According to a recent report, Mitsubishi's flagship North American model will not use the Nissan Rogue’s platform in its next incarnation, unlike the current model, which has just been updated. The next Outlander lineup will also be more wide-ranging in a bid to appeal to a wider audience.
Automotive News cited an anonymous source close to the matter for that bit of news, and it also referenced relies on forecasts from industrial analysis firm GlobalData. Mitsubishi has declined to officially comment for now.
The change in direction for Mitsubishi comes as the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance goes through a tumultuous period, particularly due to internal tensions at Nissan.
A return to a Mitsubishi Platform
When it first launched, the Outlander SUV was based on a platform developed by Mitsubishi, the GS platform, co-designed with DaimlerChrysler. That changed in 2021, with Mitsubishi by then implanted in the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. The new edition of the Outlander migrated to the CMF-CD platform, co-developed by Nissan and Renault.
If the rumors are confirmed, Mitsubishi will thus return to an in-house platform for its next-generation Outlander. Among the possible candidates, the DST concept, unveiled in 2023, seems the most promising. That three-row SUV is larger than the current Outlander and would compete with the Hyundai Santa Fe. While nothing is yet official, this hypothesis seems logical to align Mitsubishi with a more competitive segment.
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