Mitsubishi quad-motor plug-in hybrid push

Mitsubishi has revealed it is studying the potential of high-performance plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) with three and four electric motors working in tandem with a combustion engine.

In an interview with Australian journalists today, the chief engineer of the new Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross PHEV, Masahiro Awano, said both tri- and quad-motor PHEV arrangements provided an opportunity for the Japanese car-maker to create more performance-oriented models, which he also confirmed were under consideration.

Back in 2016, Mitsubishi revealed the wild GT-PHEV concept that had a single 90kW electric motor at the front axle and twin 45kW electric motors at the rear, hooked up to a 2.4-litre petrol engine.

This electrified set-up was understood to be the basis of Mitsubishi’s next-generation PHEV tech that would carry the brand through the next decade.

But according to Awano-san, there’s scope for four motors – and potentially something far more powerful.

Asked how the brand’s now PHEV system would evolve, Awano-san said: “Of course there’s opportunity for three motors and also four motors.

“Many customers want more high-performance motor vehicles so that’s one opportunity we’re already thinking about.

“I can’t say any more, sorry!”

As carsales reported earlier this week, Mitsubishi hasn’t given up on creating performance vehicles in future, with the company’s new design boss Seiji Watanabe revealing that the brand “wants to push more performance design” and that with the combination of PHEV and its Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) system “we can provide that super-high-performance SUV and 4WD system in the future”.

So count on any high-performance PHEV model being an SUV as the brand looks to demonstrate its expertise in this category.

Currently Mitsubishi has two PHEV models: the Outlander mid-size SUV, which is the world’s top-selling plug-in hybrid and has a 54km EV range; and the just-announced Eclipse Cross PHEV, which uses the same 2.4-litre twin-electric-motor set-up to achieve a 57km range.

Awano said Mitsubishi plans to expand its PHEV tech to more vehicles in future.

“We will try to expand the systems for all vehicles in the world,” he stated, but wouldn’t be drawn on specifying which vehicles are next in line or whether the Mitsubishi Triton ute would be among them.

“But in the future we would directly expand PHEV and any other electrification for our products.”

The chief product planning specialist at Mitsubishi, Minoru Uehara, also stated that if customers demand high performance, that’s exactly what they’ll get.

“We cannot talk about future product, but we will make maximum effort to answer to the customer’s expectations,” he said.

“So if the customer is really expecting high-performance vehicles, we will study this kind of opportunity.

“Myself, I really appreciate this kind of high performance,” he added.

The new Mitsubishi Outlander is expected to be revealed in early 2021 ahead of an Aussie arrival later in the year, and could herald the car-maker’s next-generation PHEV technology.

It remains to be seen whether this will resemble the GT-PHEV concept’s bigger 25kWh battery pack and tri-motor layout, claimed to be good for a 120km EV range, or will extend to a quad-motor arrangement.

It could also simply turn out to be a basic evolution of the current system as Mitsubishi continues to study higher-performance options.