You can send an official letter to the press office of London’s town hall, or you can invite the mayor himself to Tokyo, at your company’s headquarters. These are two ways you could launch a new car, and Mitsubishi went for the second choice. The best part is they also asked Boris Johnson to drive the car himself, while the company’s UK Managing Director Lance Bradley would sit in the passenger seat.
For those who don’t follow politics that much, we’ll remind you that Boris Johnson is one of the British politicians with a unique sense of humor. He is also quite interested in cleaning up the air in the city he's been administrating for a while now. Sounds like the perfect official you want to have on board when you launch a new PHEV model, right?
So, Johnson traveled to Tokyo, where he launched the new Mitsubishi Outlander range at the company’s global headquarters. The moment was shared with the Japanese automaker’s Chairman and CEO Osamu Masuko, UK Managing Director Mr. Lance Brandley, senior company executives and staff.
This meeting did not happen by chance, though, as London Mayor’s initiatives, such as an ultra-low emission zone in London and his drive for more plug-in vehicles in the city, apparently have contributed to the success of the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The British official has encouraged the company to bring its new technology to the UK, and they have complied. After all, the Outlander PHEV accounts for half of all plug-in vehicle sales on the island.
Mitsubishi’s presence in England also implies new jobs, as 400 people have been hired since the company had introduced the model last year, and this number will grow to more than 1,000 during the next three years with the new model, according to the Japanese. As you will enjoy seeing below, Boris Johnson seems to be quite fond of the 32-mile pure-electric range.
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