Mitsubishi Motors in Talks of Joining Nissan and Honda Partnership

There has been a lot of news for Mitsubishi Motors since last year, but we’re still all waiting to see the bubble finally burst. Since the Japanese automaker invested in the new Ampere battery-electric vehicle facility proposed by Renault of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, there has been talk of new models. For one, Ampere will bring a new medium SUV to Mitsubishi Motors, and we can’t help but wonder if this is the C-D segment vehicle talked about all the way back in 2020. Nissan and Mitsubishi are also working together and sharing resources, with talks of a new BEV from Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors to come to America. Now, Mitsubishi Motors is joining Nissan and Honda in a new BEV endeavor, but it’s all speculation at this point.

Back in 2022, Renault proposed a new BEV subsidiary – Ampere – and a new BEV manufacturing facility to go with it. Nissan was quick to invest and get started, but it took a whole year for Mitsubishi Motors to join in. After all, the automaker hasn’t seen anything good coming to its lineup after joining the Alliance years ago. Why bother investing if there is nothing to show for it? Perhaps the new Mitsubishi Colt that helped keep Mitsubishi in the European market helped to grease the wheels, because the automaker later invested into Ampere. As soon as they did, that news about a new medium SUV surfaced.

And then, it kind of just disappeared. We haven’t heard anything else, but in May 2024, Mitsubishi Motors announced two new business plans: “Challenge 2025” and “Momentum 2030”. We’re more interested in the latter, because “Momentum 2030” is all about bringing new vehicles to the North America lineup, which is currently sorely lacking anything new. It’s said that the Mitsubishi Mirage was discontinued to make room for new models, but we rather see some of the older SUVs finally die and make some space. Surprisingly, soon after “Momentum 2030” was announced, a news about a new BEV from Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors surfaced, along with a new pickup truck, both for North America.

With “Momentum 2030” also came a bunch of old concepts we were certain Mitsubishi Motors forgot about, including the Engelberg Tourer, e-Evolution, and the eX concepts. The most recent update is another partnership Mitsubishi Motors is joining without any real guarantee about a new model coming its way. This time, Mitsubishi is in discussion about joining Nissan’s and Honda’s planned strategic partnership. According to analysts at Goldman Sachs, this could be another prime example of automakers needing to work together to cut down on the costs involved in developing new technology for the auto industry.

“We believe the most important area in this reported tie-up is software…adding that all three companies could benefit from pursuing economies of scale.”

Software-defined vehicles (SDVs) has become a new up-and-coming technology for many automakers, but the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance hasn’t shared anything on this possibility. If Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Honda are sharing software and other resources, the development of an SDV can be back in play. As we said before, this is all speculation. There just isn’t enough information, even with all of these updates. It’s almost 2025 – get your life together, Mitsubishi!

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Photo Source/Copyright: Mitsubishi Motors