Next year’s new model goes large on its electric architecture.

NEXT year’s plug-in hybrid version of the Mitsubishi Outlander will come with a big increase in battery capacity and electric driving range.

The new version of a model with a strong Kiwi popularity was unveiled in Japan today. So far all comment has been from head office.

The occasion in Japan brings confirmation that the car, now built on a Nissan underpinning, will arrive in the first half of 2022 with a 20kWh battery, up from 13.8kWh in the version that has been a top seller here.

Electric driving range gets a 33km boost from 54km to 87km – so, ahead of all PHEV rivals, including the next-size-up Kia Sorento.

The pure electric range is measured to worldwide light vehicle test cycle requirement.

The output of the front and rear motors has increased by 40 percent.

Mitsubishi has yet to say what size petrol engine the electrics are married to and have yet to give any indication of power and torque.

The six fully fossil-fuelled variant slipping into New Zealand circulation now, in front and four-wheel-drive formats, have a new Nissan-provisioned 2.5-litre non-turbo four cylinder developing 135kW and 245Nm. That’s up 15kW/25Nm over the previous 2.4-litre four-cylinder.

With the fully petrol cars, power is now sent to the front or all four wheels through a CVT automatic transmission, with eight simulated 'gear ratios' (up from six). It’s assumed the PHEV, which is signalled as an AWD car, will follow suit, but those details – and many more – have yet to come out.

Mitsubishi said today the electric-assisted model, ewhich is on sale in Japan from December, has a bigger fuel tank, but not by how much, and has said the car will go further on its combined petrol-electric effort. But, again, there are no actual details.

MMNZ’s biggest card will be pricing. The petrol models have all gone up in price; they start at $41,990 through to $54,990. PHEV has always had a premium.

It says an increase of around 40 percent in the output of the front and rear motors and drive battery allows the car to keep driving in EV mode and avoid starting the engine as much as possible “even when pressing hard on the accelerator.”

It says the new electric component assures sufficient driving range even when using functions such as the air conditioner, while at the same time helping to reduce the frequency of charging.

The power drive unit for the front motor is newly equipped with a booster function which bolsters driving force by raising the supply of voltage to the front motor while simultaneously improving electricity consumption by raising the efficiency of the generator.

Unifying the rear motor with the control unit also secured enough floor space to install a third row of seats, enabling a seven-passenger seating layout. Installing the control unit on the outside of the passenger compartment has also helped to shut out high-frequency noise for superior quietness.

Single pedal operability is also enroute, with the make saying “a newly added pedal operation mode makes it possible to both accelerate and decelerate just by controlling the accelerator pedal.”

It explains the accelerator pedal alone can exert proper braking force with no need to switch to the brake pedal when decelerating, “so drivers can concentrate on steering and have more peace of mind in slippery surfaces such as snowy roads and reduce the fatigue caused by switching pedals.”

The Super-All Wheel Control (S-AWC) integrated vehicle dynamics control system, based on a twin-motor 4WD system with one drive motor in front and another in the rear, has a new brake Active Yaw Control (AYC) function for the rear wheels.

This allows the system to distribute the driving force to the front and rear wheels optimally according to road and driving conditions, while torque vectoring by controlling the brakes on the left and right wheels is also possible for the front and rear wheels.

Seven drive modes can be selected depending on road surface conditions and driving style. Normal is the basic mode, optimised for normal driving on paved roads. Tarmac mode provides brisk acceleration response and high-cornering performance, again on dry paved surfaces. Gravel mode, snow mode and mud mode are self-explanatory.

There’s a Power mode, which “delivers powerful acceleration when needed,” and Eco mode “which prioritises economic and environmentally friendly driving.”

Equipment levels include MI-PILOT7 single-lane driver assistance technology for highways. This integrates Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) and Lane Keep Assist (LKA) to assist the driver in maintaining distance between vehicles while keeping in the centre of the lane. It also detects speed limit signs and automatically adjusts the set speed accordingly. A navi-link involvement utilises map data to automatically adjust vehicle speed as needed according to the mapped road layout; but seems specific to motorways.