A few curious things happened this month. First, Mitsubishi’s head of electric powertrain engineering told us that only B-segment vehicles and smaller would get the full EV treatment in Mitsubishi-land, then Mitsubishi’s alliance partner Renault whipped the covers off its 4Ever Trophy concept, a purely-electric B-segment crossover, then Mitsubishi announced its XFC Concept – another B-segment compact crossover that’s also bound for electrification.
Coincidence? Maybe, but the alignment between all three of these things is difficult to ignore. Oh, maybe also throw in the recent news that Mitsubishi is going to rebadge the Renault Captur as the ASX in the Euro market – it seems somewhat relevant.
Reading between the lines, it seems obvious that the ASX (or its replacement) will shrink down from its current perch in the C-segment and migrate down to the B-segment – not only to give it some separation in the showroom from the much newer Eclipse Cross, but also to give Mitsubishi a better presence in a part of the SUV market that’s become hugely popular. In fact, with the adoption of the Captur for the European market Mitsubishi has done exactly that.
But it would also open the door for Mitsubishi to broaden its line-up of pure electric vehicles, which right now just numbers one – the Japan-market-only ek X EV microcar.
Speaking with CarsGuide, Mitsubishi’s general manager of EV powertrain engineering Takashi Shirakawa said that while Mitsubishi’s large cars would be offered as PHEVs until battery technology improved, the company’s smaller cars would be suitable for an immediate adoption of fully electric powertrains.
What defines a ‘small car’ in Mitsubishi terms? Apparently, it’s the boundary between the B and C segments.
“B-segment vehicles also have plug-in hybrids in the global market, but those smaller vehicles can become battery EVs faster than a C-segment vehicle because a smaller battery is typically good enough [for that size] and, of course, it’s more difficult to equip both an engine and an electric motor in the same package because the vehicle’s size is small,” he said.
Shirakawa also outlined that the smaller an electric car gets, the less it weighs, the less raw materials it needs for its batteries and the less CO2 is emitted in its production – it’s a virtuous cycle, environmentally speaking.
While resource-hungry large EVs are problematic – especially in high-CO2 economies like Australia, China, Thailand and anywhere else that has very emissions-intensive power infrastructure – compact EVs are quite the opposite.
So, will Mitsubishi’s electrified second-gen ASX be a rebadged Renault 4, or does the XFC point the way forward?
As it has done with the Captur, Mitsubishi could adopt a similar two-tier strategy with its next-generation ASX – rebrand the purely electric Renault for Europe, where carbon emissions are low, and deploy the XFC in regular combustion and PHEV form in the rest of the world where renewable energy isn’t as mature.
Mitsubishi has identified the ASEAN region (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) as the primary market for the XFC, which doesn’t include Australia, but Mitsubishi’s boss Takao Kato has indicated that the company has global aspirations for its new compact crossover – as well as the intention to bring an electrified version to market.
Keyword: Is the Mitsubishi ASX set to be reborn as an electric car? Signs point to yes!