Once a great and proud Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi is on the verge of collapse in America. Yes, the sales are 'booming' with a rise of more than 35% during the first quarter – but they still delivered just a little over 28k units in three months' time!
Additionally, both the hatchback and sedan versions of the Mitsubishi Mirage will allegedly get the retirement papers at the end of the year, leaving the company with just the old 2024 Outlander Sport starting at $23,695, the unsightly Eclipse Cross (from $26,345), and the popular Outlander plus Outlander PHEV in the lineup. The latter kick off at $28,395 and $40,345, respectively, but they're also the only ones worth considering from the current family of models, frankly.
No worries, some diehard Mitsubishi fans might say – the few of them that didn't flee over to Subaru, that is. As it turns out, the corner office head honchos over at the Japanese automaker's US headquarters finally admitted that things are getting hot and created the Momentum 2030 business plan to plot the company's return to greatness in North America.
It should include more dealers, a regional expansion, more innovation, and electrification features, plus a slew of new models – two all-new models will come in fresh segments, and new or completely refreshed vehicles will premiere each year until the end of the fiscal year 2030. Of course, everyone now has an opinion about what Mitsubishi should start with.
If you ask the rumor mill, some outlets will say that Mitsubishi may finally add a decent vehicle to its US lineup with a production vehicle for America created from the interesting off-road D:X minivan concept. Another option is for Mitsubishi to bring back a pickup truck to America – with help from Nissan, of course.
However, if you search around the imaginative realm of digital car content creators, some pixel masters will take a subtler and more logical approach. More precisely, the good folks over at the AutoYa info channel on YouTube have a satellite venue dubbed AutoYa Interior, and that's where all the (CGI) Mitsubishi action is because they have imagined the fourth generation's mid-cycle facelift.
Obviously, banking on your most popular model line with updates is not a bad start for setting up the cornerstone of a revival. As such, the channel's host believes that the iteration first presented in 2021 is now due for a refresh – for the 2025 or 2026 model year in America, with both exterior and interior changes.
The resident pixel master quickly obliged and has a reworked front fascia with the same busy split-headlight design as before, only updated according to the latest Mitsubishi styling. At the rear, there are new Y-shaped, slimmer LED taillights and not much else, and we can imagine that new alloy wheels are also part of the mid-cycle refresh.
Obviously, the host and the CGI expert also have something to say and CGI-present inside. The interior is allegedly getting an even more pronounced revamp – complete with a new steering and a completely reworked dashboard assembly that would see the instrument cluster unified with the infotainment system's display. Obviously, both screens would be larger and wider than ever before, lending the updated Mitsubishi Outlander a contemporary mid-2020s feel and look.
As always, the channel's traditional color reel is also present with ritzy shades – both inside and outside. So, which combination is your favorite?
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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