Breaking – Mitsubishi leaves Europe. Others will follow?

Yes, you read it correctly. With dwindling sales figures, Mitsubishi will leave Europe and focus mainly on south East Asia. It has been heartbreaking to see the company go from a big player in the automotive world, to only offering a couple of models, i.e. the Outlander PHEV and L200 pickup truck. Other smaller models also exists, but the numbers speak for themselves as they haven’t made any significant impact on the European market.

Unfortunately, Covid-19 was the nail in the coffin for Mitsubishi, and with a loss of around 1.3 billion Euro this year, which forces the company to leave almost all markets except for south East Asia, Africa, Oceana and South America. However, Mitsubishi will always be remembered for creating super car beating four door sedans. The Outlander PHEV, was Europe’s best selling full hybrid in 2019, but as other companies are catching up, as well as minor development has been seen with Mitsubishis hybrid tech, it couldn’t hold forever. The decision to pull out without facing further losses in the midst of the restructuring of Nissan, Renault and Mitsubishi seems like a logical one.

No new models will be introduced, but sales of existing ones will continue on. Further, aftersale services will be available for people that need to service their Mitsubishis in the future.

Interestingly, this is not the only company facing financial struggles. Opel pulled all of their dealers in Europe, and Suzuki´s lineup means they had to pull the Jimny because of emissions, and with limited hybridization, it will be interesting to see how these companies will face the aftermath of Covid and new emission regulations.