Mitsubishi's plug-in Outlander here in March

Mitsubishi has confirmed its Outlander PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) will reach Australia prior to the end of the first quarter next year.

The innovative, eco-friendly SUV with two electric motors and an internal combustion engine is expected to be launched to the local media at an unscheduled date in March, with an on-sale date the following month.

Pricing and specification are yet to be confirmed, but Tony Principe, Director of Marketing at MMAL (Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd), indicated the plug-in SUV will be only available in one (highly specified) level of trim, positioned somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000.

"If you're going to have more [grades] you have to have more [sales] volume," Principe told Australian journalists in Japan to drive the Outlander PHEV last week.

Clearly the PHEV variant will be a niche-selling model in the early stages at least, so MMAL will not be in a position to demand from the factory a multi-tier model structure for the plug-in Outlander to suit a broader range of Australian consumers.

Principe spoke of the need to be "realistic" about product planning for the new car. Given the landed cost of the Outlander PHEV will not be cheap for MMAL, the importer needs to combat the perception that the PHEV is expensive by packing in more standard equipment.

That means a higher-grade model, with no price leading variants below it, although MMAL remains confident the Outlander PHEV can be profitably sold in Australia for a lower price than the Holden Volt's (from $59,990).

However, it remains to be seen whether Mitsubishi eventually adds an entry-level version priced below $50,000, as it said it would earlier this year.

Mechanically, the Outlander PHEV is driven by two 60kW electric motors, one at the front and one at the rear. A lithium-ion battery pack is mounted beneath the cabin between the axles and is afforded the same underbody protection as all Outlanders, allowing the PHEV to go off-road.

The 2.0-litre petrol engine mounted transversely under the bonnet is there primarily to generate electrical power for the battery pack, but can also provide motive power through a single clutch and a reduction gear-based transaxle to the front wheels.

Should the driver need more performance than the two electric motors can supply, the clutch will automatic allow torque from the four-cylinder engine to reach the front wheels through the transaxle. Mitsubishi refers to this as 'Parallel hybrid' mode.

At other times the engine operates merely to recharge the batteries (in 'Series hybrid' mode) or it remains off altogether (in 'EV' mode).

The two electric motors can operate independently of each other, or they can be 'locked' to turn at the same rate, mimicking the operational capability of a four-wheel drive with lockable centre diff. In point of fact, however, there is no mechanical link of any kind between front and rear wheels.

Globally Mitsubishi expects the PHEV to account for a substantial percentage of total Outlander sales volume once it's on sale in major markets. The company's head of product projects and strategy, Ryugo Nakao, forecasts the PHEV variant to sell as many as 30,000 units before the end of the Japanese financial year, ending March 31, 2014.

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