At the 2013 Tokyo auto show, Mitsubishi unveiled the XR-PHEV concept. For this year’s Geneva auto show, they’re pulling a sheet from the XR-PHEV II, project code name: Electric Boogaloo. Mitsubishi is mum on the II’s gasoline engine, but the first XR-PHEV made use of a 1.1-liter turbo mill. The gas engine here is paired with a 161-hp electric motor.
As the name implies, the XR-PHEV II is a plug-in hybrid, with a 12-kWh battery. The vehicle can run on electric power alone or in series-hybrid or parallel-hybrid modes. The system decides what combination of gas and electric power is best suited for the situation, but the driver can select “battery save” and “battery charge” modes.
Exterior-wise, it takes a side-by-side game of Hocus Focus to tell XR-PHEVs I and II apart. One difference is that the original concept featured radical, diagonal door cuts, while the new concept sports more production-oriented portals. Down below, the wheels have shed their blingy centers for more subdued and modern black centers with machined edges. The sail-panel-mounted taillights tied together by an illuminated crossbar return, which suggests a production version may be so equipped. Don’t, however, expect to see the concept-grade interior make the leap to showrooms.
Despite its zazz-ute looks and Mitsubishi’s repeated references to its appearance being inspired by the Paris-Dakar-winning Pajero (that’s Montero to you, pendejo), when it comes to off-road acuity, the XR-PHEV II is maximally hat and minimally cattle. The PHEV system is designed specifically for front-wheel-drive applications. Throw on a set of snows and it’ll get you through the winter just fine, but don’t expect to win, place, or show at King of the Hammers in the XR-PHEV II.
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Given that this concept presages the next Outlander Sport, a vehicle that, as far as we know, has never entered the King of the Hammers, the focus on efficiency and abandonment of off-road ability as anything but posturing is probably a reasonable decision. And if the styling is a bit outré, it at least doesn’t leave one flummoxed. Because after the debut of the GC-PHEV concept at Chicago, we’ll admit, we were flummoxed as all get out.
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