Developing a new vehicle from the ground up costs a lot of money, money that Mitsubishi does not have. That's evident by looking at the company’s latest model, the Eclipse Sportback, which is essentially a rebadged version of the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle.
Mitsubishi's CEO was open about why the company isn't going all-in on developing new EVs during the company’s shareholder meeting on June 18. As originally reported by Automotive News, Takao Kato said:
'The reality is that [EV] growth has been slowing down globally. For now, our approach is to address this through collaboration.'
Kato-san explained to shareholders that building a bespoke EV for Mitsubishi would require a "massive investment" and if the company was forced to incur significant losses due to lower-than-predicted sales, it would "pose a major management problem."
Mitsubishi Isn't The Only One
Fellow Japanese automaker Honda recently opted to scrap its upcoming 0 Series EVs just before they were set to launch, incurring nearly $16 billion in restructuring costs. Such a move would be far more disastrous for Mitsubishi, which sold 883,828 vehicles in 2025 compared to Honda's 3,396,057.
Mitsubishi will announce another EV later this year, built by Foxconn in Taiwan. It's unlikely that this vehicle will be sold in the United States, and it will be exported to nearby markets like Japan and Australia. Mitsubishi currently sells an EV that uses the Eclipse Cross name, but like the Eclipse Sportback, it is a rebadged model based on the Renault Scenic E-Tech.
Despite being one of the first automakers to offer an EV back in 2009 with the i-MiEV, the vehicle was never given a second generation, and none of Mitsubishi's other small EVs from the Japanese market were ever brought stateside. Instead, the company has relied on the Rogue-based Outlander and the Outlander PHEV, which recently got its own reverse rebadge job from Nissan called the Rogue PHEV.
Motor1's Take: Rebadged vehicles may not be the most exciting new products, but they help an automaker like Mitsubishi compete in a new segment without a massive investment. The Eclipse Sportback also adds one more affordable EV in a market that is devoid of meaningful options, so having one more to choose from, even if it's technically a duplicate, is not something to frown upon.
