Mitsubishi Sheds Some Light on Mysterious Compact SUV
What’s on the agenda for Mitsubishi Motors? We’ve heard rumblings of new concepts after the automaker announced its 2024 North America lineup, but Mitsubishi also has plans for the rest of the year (2023). According to the “Challenge 2025” business strategy, there are several new models joining the global lineup, the rebadged Renault Clio/Mitsubishi Colt included. The automaker also announced six Mitsubishi models set for a 2023 release, and one of them seems to have come back from the dead. Recently debuted during the 2022 Vietnam Motor Show, the model was a compact SUV called the “XFC concept”. Now, a new concept based off of the XFC concept is said to make its debut during the 2023 Indonesia International Auto Show, but Mitsubishi couldn’t wait and gave us all a little preview of the unnamed model.
It’s not one of the high-performance concepts Mitsubishi has been throwing around for several years. Could it be the Lancer Crossover talked about in 2019? Maybe, but unlikely. Based off of the XFC concept in 2022, this new model has no name, is a compact SUV, and comes with a little off-road capability. On the outside, the original XFC concept came with muscular styling cues with larger wheels, fender flares in the front and rear, and a lot of ground clearance. The new model concept carries those same tones with 18-inch wheels and a segment-leading ground clearance of 8.7 inches. Front-wheel drive (FWD) is said to be the standard, but we would assume this concept would also come with the automaker’s All-Wheel Control (AWC) or Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) drive system given that the original concept also came with four driving modes: Normal, Wet, Gravel, and Mud.
Powered by a 1.5-liter engine, and paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT), this new concept isn’t winning any drag races. We can mark the upcoming Ralliart Vision off the list then, set for release in 2024. This new compact SUV is 172.8 inches long, a little larger than the Renault Captur-rebadged ASX sold in Europe. Slated for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, we probably won’t see this new concept in the states, but a global release hasn’t been ruled out just yet. For now, we have a better chance at getting the 2023 Mitsubishi Colt in North America.
The automaker was shy about sharing the interior space, but if this new concept is based off of the XFC concept, we can expect to see side-by-side screens making up the majority of the dashboard for the instrument cluster and infotainment screen. Word says that the entertainment system will also come with a Yamaha sound system, but nothing is certain. Offering ample cargo room, passenger space, and some of the best passenger comfort in its class, the XFC concept did have some things going for it. We wouldn’t put it past Mitsubishi to build off of a scrapped concept and sell it as the unnamed compact SUV seen in the “Challenge 2025” roadmap.
We’ll know more later this month, with a full reveal planned on August 10, 2023 at the Indonesia International Auto Show. Follow along with us on University Mitsubishi social media for the full scoop on new and upcoming models from Mitsubishi Motors.