The Mitsubishi Airtrek is back! But it will be unrecognisable and unattainable to most fans!
The Mitsubishi Airtrek was once one of the first soft-roaders available from a Japanese company and it proved extremely popular in Malaysia. The turbocharged models in particular saw a lot of love from the grey market and the car still has a cult following today. The Airtrek went on to evolve into the Outlander over years, and it had some fans in Malaysia too. Now, the Airtrek name has been revived. However, this is far from the same turbocharged sports crossover most Malaysians know and love.
That’s because the all-new Mitsubishi Airtrek is an electric vehicle, as promised in April! Not only that, but the Airtrek will be built by GAC Mitsubishi Motors, their production and sales joint-venture in China. The new Airtrek was revealed at Auto Guangzhou 2021 and it’s not known if it will be introduced outside the Chinese market any time soon.
According to the press materials, the new Airtrek was developed as an “e-cruising SUV” concept. The ‘e’ stands for electric, expanding, and expressive. At the front of the car, we see the Dynamic Shield and at the rear, we see a hexagon motif on the tailgate design with the license plate mounted low on the bumper for a more upmarket design.
We can see from the photos that this is probably not going to be as large as the Outlander, nor does it look like it will accommodate 7 seats. More likely, the new Airtrek will be marketed as a family-sized electric SUV that’s made for long-distance cruising. This is evidenced by the 520km driving range and the long-wheelbase.
Mitsubishi says the interior will use loads of soft padding and there will be a high-classfeel thanks to the use of stitches on ‘every detail”. Loads of interior space for the whole family to ride in comfort is also being promised with the new Airtrek.
Powering the new Airtrek is a single motor, which has been integrated with the inverted and reduction drive into a compact unit. No performance figures besides the range was shared, but we did learn that the battery has a large 70kW capacity and it’s installed at the centre of the floor for the best front-rear weight distribution and a low centre of gravity.
“We named the new electric SUV Airtrek so that many customers can enjoy adventurous, active driving with this pure EV, which achieves a maximum driving range of approximately 520 km while emitting zero CO2 in motion,” said Takao Kato, president and chief executive officer, MMC. “We hope the all-new Airtrek will help expand the horizons of customers in China, where environmental initiatives are accelerating with new energy vehicles, especially EVs.”
