Mitsubishi Teases Sporty New Hybrid SUV for Geneva

Mitsubishi is on an SUV spree so far this year. We already know to expect the “return of a legend” at next month’s Chicago Auto Show – a car expected to herald a return of the Montero to the US. Now, the Japanese automaker has given us this preview of a new hybrid SUV model coming to Geneva:

Look familiar? It should – the teaser image of the grille is highly reminiscent of the XR-PHEV Concept we first saw over a year ago at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show. Fittingly, we’re expecting to see a production-ready evolution of the year-old Mitsubishi XR-PHEV SUV (pictured below) in Geneva, or at the very least a prototype.

You may remember that we’d already re-looked at the Mitsubishi XR-PHEV concept when we covered the return of the Montero last week. However, we didn’t really discuss what our original thoughts were when the concept first hit the showroom back in 2013. At the time, we projected that the XR-PHEV previewed a new Mitsubishi Outlander.

Today, we got a second teaser for the hybrid SUV that will take a bow in Geneva.

With this second teaser, we now have both front and profile views of the car, with a few noteworthy visual features that Mitsubishi clearly wants us to notice.

First, the blue LED headlights probably won’t be blue in real-life, but the slanted design definitely will, along with the horizontal grille with X-shaped chrome accents. We also notice the swooping silhouette of the new crossover, complete with the X-shaped taillights that outline the rear of the vehicle. You can also make out massive lips around the wheel wells, and a striking body line extending from the back of the front wheel to the tip of the taillights.

Interestingly enough, there’s a slight chance that this isn’t the new Outlander or Outlander Sport -or- Outlander Plug-In Hybrid. Some sources believe that instead, Mitsubishi will be introducing us to the successor to the outgoing Lancer Evolution in Geneva. While it’s unlikely it would hold the Lancer Evo name, apparently Mitsubishi at one point claimed that IF they replaced the Lancer Evo’s slot in their lineup, it would definitely be with a sports SUV, although we’d heard it would come from a partnership with Renault-Nissan.

So, with that we have a mystery, folks. In the end, our bet’s on a new Outlander Sport hybrid which we’ve been told to expect sometime this year.  Either way, you’ll be able to prove us wrong when the 2015 Geneva Motor Show opens in March!