Extended play

MITSUBISHI'S PIONEERING PLUG-IN RETURNS WITH A BIGGER BATTERY, MORE POWER AND MORE WAYS TO USE IT

- DANIEL GARDNER

IT DOESN’T TAKE a great stretch of the imagination to believe that the number-one selling ‘car’ in the United States is, by a substantial margin, Ford’s F-Series truck. Nor would you be labelled particularly gullible to be convinced that the world’s most popular car is the Toyota Corolla.

But when it comes to the global best-selling plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), you might want a few more guesses. I’ll save you the trouble. With more than 300,000 sales to its name, the first-generation Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV is officially the world’s favourite plug-in, and the secret to its success is relatively simple.

In the early 2000s, Mitsubishi, like many other brands, felt the turning tide as more and more motorists ditched their sedans, hatchbacks and wagons in favour of an SUV. But, at the same time, the Japanese manufacturer also sensed the groundswell of electrification and the switch to battery power that would surely accelerate with a similar curve. That’s how the Outlander was the first model to the market that combined the virtues of a PHEV drivetrain, dressed up in the alluring SUV adventure suit that the world couldn’t resist. Not only that, the Outlander aligned with Mitsubishi’s value-for-money mantra and, in its most affordable form, cost just less than $46,000 – an all-wheel drive mid-sized SUV with zero-emissions capability for the price of a topshelf Nissan X-Trail. In the ensuing eight years, however, numerous manufacturers have followed Mitsubishi’s lead, bringing plug-in hardware to market and encroaching on the Outlander’s turf. Time for a reset.