Too Little, Too Late?

In a world dominated by SUVs, is the Mitsubishi Outlander arriving a bit too late, or is it versatile enough to create a niche of its own?

- Arup Das

I can’t recall the last time that I sat in a brand-new Mitsubishi. I seriously can’t! It seems like a memory lost somewhere in time. Anyway, the good news, at least for loyal followers of the brand, is that the Japanese automaker has finally decided to bring us the latest version of their urban beast – the Outlander. And it’s expected to be priced around ₹31 lakh, courtesy of the CBU route that it’s supposed to take. Yes, it’ll be expensive, and did I mention that only the petrol version of the car will be launched India?

Have we met before?

You might have heard this one before, in the movies at least. And while it may be a tacky pickup line, it’s quite appropriate for the situation at hand. I remember test driving the previous-generation Outlander almost a decade ago, and the new version seems to have the same look and feel. Maybe I’m judging it too harshly. But, if I remember correctly, this ‘new’ generation SUV was launched globally in 2012, and then it received a face lift in 2015, and it’s this version that we’re getting now in India. So, it’s not simply a new version of the Outlander, it’s a three-year-old ‘new’ version of the SUV.