Mitsubishi is relaunching a well-known model: when you can buy the new Colt

Mitsubishi Motors will launch the small Colt car, based on the Renault Clio and built in Turkey as it rebuilds its European operations.

Mitsubishi Motors will launch a new generation of Colt small hatchback in the fall of 2023, based on the CMF-B platform of the Renault Nissan Mitsubishi alliance and built by Renault in Turkey.

Along with the small ASX SUV, announced in January, it is the second model in a new collaboration between Mitsubishi and the Renault alliance partner.

Renault and Nissan have been building models in Europe together for the past decade, including the small Micra car in France and a pickup truck in Spain. Future common models include a small electric car.

Colt is expected to be almost identical to the Renault Clio, which is built in Bursa, Turkey, and Novo Mesto, Slovenia. Mitsubishi has released an image of the car.

Colt’s drive units will include hybrids, Mitsubishi said, but the carmaker did not provide additional specifications. In addition to a petrol engine, the Clio comes with Renault’s full hybrid E-Tech system.

ASX will be a version of Renault Captur, which is built in Valladolid, Spain.

Extended range

For the new model, Mitsubishi revived the Colt nameplate, which first appeared in 1962. The last generation sold in Europe was built at the Nedcar plant in Born, the Netherlands, between 2004 and 2014. More than 400,000 were sold, the manufacturer said. auto.

Mitsubishi sold the plant to a Dutch conglomerate in 2012, and is now building BMW Group models.

“The new model will significantly increase the coverage of the Mitsubishi Motors market in the main European segments,” the carmaker said in a statement on Tuesday.

Colt and ASX will join the Space Star model – also a small hatchback – and the Eclipse Cross compact plug-in hybrid SUV in the brand’s range. These models are built in Asia.

Mitsubishi has largely eliminated the mid-size Outlander SUV, which is only available in plug-in hybrid form. It also sells the one-ton L200 pickup.

Announcing that it will remain in Europe last year, Mitsubishi has said it will focus on countries where it could be profitable, including France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

Mitsubishi Motors has sold 63,122 vehicles in Europe in 2021, according to the ACEA trade group, down 27% from 2020.