“You take a look and say, ‘OK, what’s a good looking SUV [that] you have the freedom to plug when you want, or use gasoline?'” Herod told Automotive News after the meeting. “And I think that consumers, you know, maybe they want to transition to an EV in the future. I think they’re really looking to the gateway vehicle. I think that because the crossover market’s so hot, the PHEV is going to serve that niche perfectly.”
Having a successful launch of the Outlander PHEV this year will be a top goal for Mitsubishi Motors North America’s incoming CEO, Mark Chaffin.
Chaffin said the redesigned, gasoline-powered Outlander that debuted last year has been “on fire.” Outlander sales rose 24.9 percent in the U.S. in 2021 to 33,883, accounting for 33.2 percent of the brand’s volume.
“We’re continuing to enhance Outlander,” Chaffin told Automotive News. “It’s only been in the market a year. We’re not sitting on our heels. We’re bringing forward some great trim enhancements to the dealers. It’s going to keep the customers engaged, keep the customers looking at us.
“Outlander is going to continue to be a big hit, and when we launch the PHEV version of it, we’re going to bring in a whole other group of customers.”
