You know Mitsubishi. Stalwart manufacturer from Japan. Assembled one of World War II’s greatest military aircraft, the Zero fighter. Decades-strong producer of durable trucks and buses. Longtime past-tense partner of Chrysler. Produced a whole slew of all-wheel-drive performance cars, backed up by rally excellence. Tends to get lost among the hoopla from its larger home-market competitors. This coming rollout of a revised high-profit offering should help matters in that regard.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, which is being freshened with some high-impact sheetmetal revisions for 2022. It’s a compact crossover that slots just below the Outlander SUV in Mitsubishi’s vehicle lineup. The revised Eclipse Cross debuts this month in, interestingly, Australia and New Zealand, markets which have long been Three Diamonds strongholds. Derived from the XR-PHEV concept vehicle, the Eclipse Cross will have a new frontal lighting treatment and a redesigned rear hatch. Base power comes from the MIVEC 1.5-liter inline-four with turbocharging and direct injection. A new eight-inch dash display with direct smartphone connectivity will be standard. The new-edition Eclipse Cross is expected here in the first quarter of 2021. There are no immediate plans for U.S. sale of a plug-in hybrid model expected for other markets.
Jim Donnelly On Wheels 