Mitsubishi's ASX is headed for an EV reboot, but is the XFC going to be it?

There must be something special, some kind of secret sauce in the recipe Mitsubishi used for the ASX, because after a colossal 12 years on sale – and a whopping four facelifts – people keep buying them.

It’s also just had another update, so odds are good that the humble first-gen ASX is set to rack up a 13th year in the market. But what’s around the corner? According to Mitsubishi, the impending need to renew or replace the ASX with a new-generation model makes it a prime candidate for reinvention as an EV.

Speaking with Wheels in Tokyo, Mitsubishi Motors’ chief of electric powertrain development outlined the company’s plan to focus on plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrains for its larger cars, while smaller vehicles would be offered as battery-electric EVs in appropriate markets.

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Mitsubishi ASX rendering by Theottle

“An Outlander is defined as a larger vehicle in our case, an Eclipse Cross is a little bit smaller than an Outlander, but from an engineering point of view it’s in the same category [as Outlander]. But, for example, a Renault Captur is not, as a B-segment vehicle,” Shirakawa said.

Shirakawa’s name-dropping of the Captur is telling, as Mitsubishi only recently adopted Renault’s compact crossover as its “new” ASX for the European market with not much more than a badge switcheroo.

The unveiling of Renault’s all-electric 4Ever Trophy concept just a few days ago is another hint at what may lie ahead for Mitsubishi – as a B-segment SUV with all-electric power, it aligns almost perfectly with Mitsubishi’s electrification worldview and provides a suitable base for a new-generation ASX to be crafted upon, given the alliance between Renault and Mitsubishi.

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Renault 4EVER concept previews not only a new Renault 4, but could form the base of a new electric ASX

However, that would require a repositioning of the ASX as a smaller vehicle than the current generation car, which sits within the C segment and, though nearly 180mm shorter than the Eclipse Cross, is almost identical in width and wheelbase to Mitsubishi’s other small SUV.

Adding further fuel to the fire is this week’s debut of the Mitsubishi XFC concept - a compact SUV that not only hints heavily at Mitsubishi’s new styling direction, but is also destined for an electrified future, according to Mitsubishi boss Takao Kato.

However, the XFC is intended to primarily serve emerging markets in the ASEAN region – which means emissions and safety standards may fall short of Australian, European and American expectations – and the electrification on offer is more likely to be a PHEV powertrain option rather than a dedicated EV lineup.

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That said, the company does appear to have bigger aspirations for the XFC, with Kato saying: “In the future, we plan to add an electrified variant to the lineup and to also roll it out in regions outside ASEAN. We hope to grow the model from a vehicle for the ASEAN market to a global strategic vehicle.”

Mitsubishi, unlike a growing number of manufacturers, isn’t going all-in on pure EVs just yet. Besides giving preference to PHEV powertrains for its larger vehicles, citing their reduced demand on rare minerals and lower lifecycle emissions than many pure EVs, Mitsubishi isn’t in any great rush to bring anything with a charging port to parts of the world where CO2 emissions from power generation are very high.

Therefore, engineering the XFC to offer a range of powertrains from pure combustion to PHEV and even EV would grant the company a great deal of flexibility in how it tackles the emissions problem, with parts of the world with high renewable energy-generation getting EVs, and the rest of the planet getting a mix of combustion and hybrid powertrains.

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And by Shirakawa’s reckoning, vehicles in that size category could even skip the PHEV stage altogether.

“B-segment vehicles also have plug-in hybrids in the global market, but those smaller vehicles can become battery EVs faster than a C segment vehicle because a smaller battery is typically good enough [for that size] and, of course, it’s more difficult to equip both an engine and an electric motor in the same package because the vehicle’s size is small.”

When will we see the ASX’s electric reboot?

With the current ASX only just having undergone another refresh, it’s probably unlikely to happen in the immediate future, but with the almost simultaneous reveal of the Renault 4Ever Trophy and Mitsubishi XFC concept, it appears the company has two very viable options in front of it to help get the ASX’s long-overdue second generation – or at least its replacement – off the ground.