Mitsubishi Motors To Sell Only EVs, Hybrids By Mid-2030s

Mitsubishi Motors Corp plans for hybrid and battery electric vehicles to account for all new car sales by the middle of the next decade, beefing up its electrification strategy for staying competitive in key markets.

Mitsubishi, which is also a junior partner in an alliance with France's Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co, said it will roll out 16 new models over the next five years.

The Japanese automaker, known for its Outlander sport utility vehicle, stuck to a previous goal of having half of its new car sales electrified by fiscal 2030 and on Friday newly pledged to raise that further to 100% by fiscal 2035.

Mitsubishi considers plug-in hybrids (PHEV), hybrid electric cars and battery electric vehicles (BEV) as electrified vehicles. Electrified vehicles accounted for about 7% of the company's total new car sales in fiscal 2021.

"Among our existing models, we'll expand the geographical areas where our flagship PHEV Outlander is being offered and build out the sales of the Minicab-MiEV light commercial EV that was relaunched last year," Chief Executive Takao Kato said.

Among the 16 new models Mitsubishi plans to roll out, one will be a BEV Renault alliance model, while another will be a Nissan alliance model, Mitsubishi said in presentation materials that were part of its fiscal 2023-2025 business plan.

Of the other 14 models Mitsubishi plans to launch, seven will be purely combustion engine-powered ones, five will be hybrids and the remaining two will be BEV, the company said.

(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Gilles Guillaume; Additional reporting by Elaine Lies; Editing by Chang-Ran Kim and Shounak Dasgupta)