What are the Possibilities of Nissan and Mitsubishi Partnership?
Well, the deal is final. Mitsubishi and Nissan have teamed up after Nissan bought about a third of the Mitsubishi company. With Mitsubishi Motors under Nissan’s wing, the two brands are bound to take flight across sunny skies and green pastures. But before they do, we’d like to talk about why this is a big deal.
Mitsubishi is already known to play a strong, yet quiet, game with their crossovers and SUVs, but what really makes them desirable, especially to Nissan, is their plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) technology. Mitsubishi is dominating a few European markets with the Mitsubishi Outlander 4×4 PHEV, which is supposed to come to the U.S. this year. The model is one of the most fuel efficient 4×4 SUVs in the world, as it travels around 700 miles on a fully charged battery and full tank of gas.
Nissan is expected to have their own SUV PHEV, the Infiniti Q80, and it is expected to come to market in 2018/2019. However, with this new partnership they may use tech from the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV to produce a revised model before release.
On the other side of the isle, Mitsubishi could use a helping hand from Nissan in the electric vehicle (EV) class. At the moment, Mitsubishi’s sole EV is the Mitsubishi i-Miev, and although a great vehicle, it’s range is a little shy (59 miles), where Nissan’s EV, the Nissan Leaf, can travel over 100 miles without a drop of gas. Plus, the Nissan Leaf has a lot of nice tech that could be beneficial for Mitsubishi to adopt.
There’s also a lot both companies can benefit from by swapping tech, features, and design. For instance, take the Mitsubishi truck models. What? Truck? Yeah, Mitsubishi has a couple of trucks by the name of Triton and L200, but they’re only sold outside of the U.S. If they were to ever come to the states, Nissan has partnered up with Cummins diesel engines, and that could be a new opportunity for Mitsubishi.
Furthermore, Nissan has Zero gravity seats, the best in the business thus far. Without going into the science of it all, Nissan has designed car seats with a unique shape and structure that provide continuous support for the driver’s/passenger’s spine, from their hips to their shoulders. As a result, this ergonomic design takes stress off of the muscles and reduces spinal curvature to help maximize blood flow and keep energy levels up. Wouldn’t it be nice if every Mitsubishi had them?
While we’re on the topic of “best in the business”, the Mitsubishi warranties are definitely something Nissan would be smart to grab up. The warranties are a 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain limited warranty, anti-corrosion coverage for 7 years/100,000 miles, and roadside assistance for 5 years, unlimited miles.
This is just the beginning, and all speculation we might add. There’s no say on what’s going to happen, the deal was just finalized. But who knows? Something cool could come to market soon enough.