Developing a new vehicle from the ground up is a costly endeavor, one that Mitsubishi cannot currently afford. This is evident in the company's latest model, the Eclipse Sportback, which is essentially a rebadged version of the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle.
Mitsubishi's CEO, Takao Kato, was open about the company's financial struggles during the company's shareholder meeting on June 18. As originally reported by Automotive News, Kato said: "The reality is that electric vehicle growth has been slowing down globally. For now, our approach is to address this through collaboration."
View Price on AmazonKato explained to shareholders that building a bespoke electric vehicle for Mitsubishi would require a massive investment. If the company were to incur significant losses due to lower-than-predicted sales, it would pose a major management problem.
Fellow Japanese automaker Honda recently opted to scrap its upcoming 0 Series electric vehicles just before they were set to launch, incurring nearly $16 billion in restructuring costs. Such a move would be far more disastrous for Mitsubishi, which sold 883,828 vehicles in 2025 compared to Honda's 3,396,057.
Mitsubishi will announce another electric vehicle later this year, built by Foxconn in Taiwan. It's unlikely that this vehicle will be sold in the United States, and it will be exported to nearby markets like Japan and Australia. Mitsubishi currently sells an electric vehicle that uses the Eclipse Cross name, but like the Eclipse Sportback, it is a rebadged model based on the Renault Scenic E-Tech.
Despite being one of the first automakers to offer an electric vehicle back in 2009 with the i-MiEV, the vehicle was never given a second generation, and none of Mitsubishi's other small electric vehicles from the Japanese market were ever brought stateside. Instead, the company has relied on the Rogue-based Outlander and the Outlander PHEV, which recently got its own reverse rebadge job from Nissan called the Rogue PHEV.
Rebadged vehicles may not be the most exciting new products, but they help an automaker like Mitsubishi compete in a new segment without a massive investment. The Eclipse Sportback also adds one more affordable electric vehicle in a market that is devoid of meaningful options, so having one more to choose from, even if it's technically a duplicate, is not something to frown upon.
Source: motor1.com
