Mitsubishi to Continue Conquering Europe with Renault Car Clones

Mitsubishi Motors aims to boost its annual sales in Europe by 20–30% with the launch of new badge-engineered models, one of which will debut this week.

At the start of the current decade, Mitsubishi Motors considered exiting the European market due to declining sales and a lack of market-appropriate new models. However, they later decided to flood Europe with clones of Renault models. The first badge-engineered models were the new Mitsubishi ASX (a rebadged Renault Captur) and the new Mitsubishi Colt (a rebadged Renault Clio). This simple tactic worked; in 2024, Mitsubishi's sales in Europe grew by 42.2% to 60,873 vehicles, according to ACEA.

Current Mitsubishi ASX for Europe

Meanwhile, in the first five months of this year, Mitsubishi's sales in Europe fell by 31.2% to 21,289 units. This decline is due to the gradual exit of the budget Space Star hatchback (known as the Mitsubishi Mirage in the USA) and the first-generation Eclipse Cross compact crossover. Mitsubishi Space Star will not have a replacement, and the Japanese Eclipse Cross will be succeeded by an electric crossover of the same name produced in France—a rebadged Renault Scenic E-Tech. The premiere of the second-generation European Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross is expected in September.

Another new Mitsubishi model for Europe will debut in the coming days—the new Grandis. Fifteen years ago, Mitsubishi offered a minivan under this name, but now the name will be given to a clone of the compact Renault Symbioz crossover built in Spain. Let us remind you that the Symbioz is essentially a slightly elongated Renault Captur. Thus, the new Mitsubishi Grandis will be an elongated version of the current Mitsubishi ASX.

Renault Symbioz

New badge-engineered models will allow Mitsubishi to increase sales in Europe to 75,000–80,000 vehicles per year, estimates Frank Kroll, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Europe, as cited by Automotive News Europe. Mitsubishi's own engineering school in Europe will only represent the recently updated Outlander crossover in the coming years, which is offered exclusively in a plug-in hybrid version in Europe.

In other markets, Mitsubishi also plans to develop through partner models: in the USA, it will be a clone of the new Nissan Leaf, and in Australia and New Zealand—a clone of one of Foxtron's models.