Mitsubishi Outlander upgrades evaluated

Mitsubishi is evaluating a raft of exterior and interior improvements to its fast-selling Mitsubishi Outlander. This is in a bid to maintain the sales momentum it has gained through the launch of its PHEV plug-in hybrid this year.

Despite initial sales expectations of 2500 cars up to March 2015, Mitsubishi UK has since upgraded its predictions to 10,000 sales. Key to this has been the car's competitive pricing, which effectively matches the equivalent price of buying a diesel in the range. As a result of the PHEV's sales boom, sales of diesel Outlanders are also up 40% year-on-year.

However, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV Concept-S shown at the Paris motor show is said to indicate a number of potential improvements that could be made to the car to help it meet anticipated competition in the future. In particular, interior material quality has been greatly improved.

'We are addressing one direction we could take,' said Mitsubishi's head of Outlander planning, Kanenori Okomoto. 'The S stands for sportiness and sophistication, and we see opportunities to express both more clearly. The concept car is here to gauge reaction to that suggestion.'