Mitsubishi updates the ASX with a French face

Wednesday, 21 September 2022

The new-for-Europe Mitsubishi ASX has debuted with a recognisable face.

Mitsubishi has updated the ASX crossover with a distinctly French look.

There’s a good reason for that – the ASX is now a rebadged Renault Captur, at least for Europe. That means it has the same curved slashes for daytime running lights, the same five-spoke wheels and the same interior. Even the little car in the digital dashboard is a Renault. The only real changes are the logo on the nose and ‘Mitsubishi’ spelt across the boot.

The changes between the ASX and the Renault Captur are restricted to the badges.

The rebadge isn’t a bad idea, the Captur is a capable little runabout and changing the logo saves Mitsubishi lots of money, especially considering it already comes with a handful of electrified powertrains, which can be costly and time-consuming to develop.

So far, the ASX will be offered with five different engines over in Europe, starting with a 1.0-litre triple making 67kW/160Nm and paired with a six-speed manual.

Mitsubishi has given the Eclipse Cross a facelift for 2021, as well as jamming a lot of gear into the top spec VRX.

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A hybrid and a plug-in hybrid option will be offered overseas.

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Next up is a 1.3-litre four-cylinder mild hybrid with 103kW/260Nm and the same manual transmission, followed by a 116kW/270Nm version of the engine with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic.

A 105kW/255Nm 1.6-litre four-cylinder ‘full hybrid’ represents the fourth option, while the plug-in hybrid takes the same engine and ups the combined output to 118kW/290Nm, along with an all-electric range of about 50km.

The hybrids are quite interesting from a technical standpoint – they don’t have clutches, relying on the electric motor to get things moving before calling on the petrol engine, which is paired with a four-speed automatic.

It might sound old-fashioned but think of it more as the electric motor replacing first and second. There’s also no reverse, which is also handled by the electric bits.

A second motor resides in the transmission to control the flywheel speed, smooth out engagement and start the engine.

Both hybrids use this system, the plug-in getting a larger battery and slightly more powerful secondary motor.

Mitsubishi New Zealand isn't yet sure if it will take the new European ASX, telling Stuff that it is currently in discussions regarding options for the local market, but with no updates to share at this time.