Mitsubishi turns to Nissan

Mitsubishi has announced a new mid-term business plan calling for 20 per cent of its global sales to be electrified by 2020, just hours after the company effectively announced it will employ Renault-Nissan platforms to replace its aged Lancer and Galant models.

Mitsubishi Motors announced earlier this week it will join forces with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, representing a widening of the Nissan-Mitsubishi joint-venture that was formed in 2011 and resulted in the Nissan Dayz and Mitsubishi eK ‘kei’ cars launched in Japan this year.

The success of that project has prompted a new collaboration that will result in a co-developed global small car and pair of Renault-based Mitsubishi sedans, as well as the sharing of technology and manufacturing capacity.

The basis of the new project will be a jointly developed kei-car platform, including an electric version for global markets.

The plan will also see Mitsubishi release two new Renault-based sedans – a mid-size four-door for the US and Canada, followed by a smaller sedan for global consumption.

No timing or technical details were provided, except that the larger sedan will be made at the Renault-Samsung plant in Busan, South Korea – where Renault Australia’s Megane, Fluence and Latitude are produced.

According to our sources, the new mid-size Mitsubishi sedan will be based on a D-segment Renault platform and will probably offer plug-in hybrid capability.

Such a vehicle could be a replacement for North America’s Galant, which was discontinued in 2012 and formed the basis of Mitsubishi’s last Australian-made model, the 380.

The Renault version, meantime, could replace both the Latitude (sold in Australia, Asia, eastern Europe and Mexico) and the Laguna (sold in mainstream European markets).

Of more interest to Australia is the smaller joint sedan, which will compete in the same global C-segment as Mitsubishi’s existing Lancer – a seven-year-old design that dates back to 2007.

Although a production site is yet to be revealed, it’s possible the next-generation Renault Megane/Fluence or Nissan Pulsar will form the basis for Mitsubishi’s long-overdue Lancer successor.

Where that leaves the next-generation Lancer Evo, which had been rumoured to offer a hybridised all-wheel drive powertrain, remains unclear.

“As a result of the development of collaborative projects with Nissan Motor up to now, Mitsubishi Motors is pleased to work again with Nissan and now Renault towards achieving further collaborations,” said Mitsubishi Motors Corporation President Osamu Masuko.

“The new opportunities could be described as evidence that the ongoing collaborative projects between Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan have brought positive results, and Mitsubishi Motors hopes that any new collaborative projects with the Renault-Nissan Alliance would bring us further merits.”

President and CEO of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Carlos Ghosn, said the deal follows the joint-venture Nissan-Mitsubishi kei-car project for Japan.

“I welcome the direction being taken towards this broader co-operation, creating new opportunities for Renault in addition to further leveraging the productive relationship between Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors.”

Another proposal of the deal is to co-develop a third model, a small kei-car that measures less than 3.4 metres long, is powered by an engine smaller than 660cc and will form the basis of “a specific electric version” to be sold globally.

Such a model could replace Mitsubishi’s discontinued i-MiEV, using the same platform as the next-generation Renault Twingo and smart ForTwo as its basis.

Renault withdrew from the US market in 1987 and the under-utilised Samsung plant in South Korea – which has capacity for 300,000 vehicles per annum but last year made only 130,000 -- will begin making Nissan vehicles for the US in 2014.

Meantime, Mitsubishi has announced it will replace its previous mid-term business plan, Jump 2013, with a new one dubbed New Stage 2016.

In it, Mitsubishi says it will embark on a new stage of growth led chiefly by strategic new models in the pick-up, SUV and crossover segments.

The first of these will be an all-new Triton ute, which was previewed by the GR-HEV diesel-hybrid concept at this year’s Geneva motor show and will hit global markets by the end of its 2013 fiscal year (ending March 2014).

Mitsubishi says it is also developing replacements for the Pajero SUV and ASX crossover, both of which will be previewed by concepts at next month’s Tokyo show.

While the Triton is likely to be hybridized as part of a midlife facelift due by 2016, plug-in hybrid versions of both the new Pajero and ASX are expected to be offered from the outset, with both models anticipated to appear in 2015 – by which time a new Lancer will be overdue.

Mitsubishi plans to sell 1.43 million vehicles globally in fiscal year 2016 – up 30 per cent on its current fiscal year – by increasing its mix of pick-ups, SUVs and crossovers from a 69 per cent currently to 74 per cent.

It also plans to become “a leading company in electric vehicle technology” by increasing its production ratio of EV and PHEV vehicles to 20 per cent by 2020.

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...

Don't forget to register to comment on this article.