Japanese automaker and a member of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Known for SUVs, pickups and plug-in hybrids, it increasingly shares platforms with Nissan - the Eclipse Sportback EV for North America is based on the Nissan Leaf.
Electric crossover for North America, a rebadged and restyled third-generation Nissan Leaf. Own bumpers and front fascia, revised tail-light pattern; interior not yet shown. Powertrain undisclosed - the donor Leaf offers 218 hp and a 75 kWh battery in the US. Sales from late summer or early autumn 2026.
Mitsubishi has updated its Momentum 2030 plan for North America. The four-model US lineup gains the electric Eclipse Sportback this autumn and an off-road version of the Outlander in the first quarter of 2027, and the company has confirmed it intends to return to the mid-size pickup segment with Nissan, without naming a platform or a date.
The three Japanese makers are in final talks to standardize the electronic control units (ECUs) that run their next-generation hybrids and EVs. The shared modules would cover autonomous driving, infotainment and powertrain control, with cars expected from 2029-2030. The aim is to cut costs against Chinese rivals and Tesla.
Mitsubishi has shown the first official photos of the Eclipse Sportback, an electric crossover based on the third-generation Nissan Leaf and built solely for North America. It gets its own bumpers, front fascia and tail-light pattern; the powertrain is undisclosed. Sales start in late summer or early autumn 2026.
The Volkswagens sold in China are built by two companies, and one of them is Chinese. That arrangement started in 1983 as a condition of entry, and it has since produced badges that exist nowhere else: Jetta, Wuling, and AUDI in block capitals with no rings. Who holds which half, which brands the ventures invented for themselves, and which of the old partnerships have quietly ended.
Japan's carmakers stay overwhelmingly Japanese-controlled, but the ownership lines are still tangled - Toyota holds minority stakes in three of its own rivals, and Nissan, Mitsubishi and Renault are locked into a 25-year cross-shareholding pact that a 2025 Honda-Nissan merger attempt failed to simplify.
Mitsubishi Motors is a Japanese carmaker and a member of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, in which Nissan holds a controlling stake. That relationship increasingly shapes Mitsubishi’s line-up: rather than developing every model from scratch, the company badges and restyles vehicles engineered by its alliance partners, particularly Nissan.
Its core strengths are SUVs and crossovers - the Outlander and ASX among them - and plug-in hybrid powertrains, an area where Mitsubishi was an early mover with the Outlander PHEV. In some regions it also sells pickups such as the Triton.
The Eclipse Sportback marks the brand’s return to a familiar tactic: it is a rebadged, restyled version of the third-generation Nissan Leaf, built for North America. The Eclipse name itself is a revival - once a sporty coupe, more recently a crossover - now applied to an electric model aimed at buyers Mitsubishi hopes to win on brand and price.
