Added on December 30, 2019  The News Wheel   , , , ,
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Mitsubishi Is Stopping Development of Diesel Engines

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2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV diesel engines
2019 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV won the science award
Photo: Mitsubishi Motors

According to Nikkei Inc., Mitsubishi will not be developing diesel engines for its future models. The automaker is working to lower the number of diesel vehicles it offers and stop producing diesel versions of many models before 2022.

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The future of diesel engines

The popularity of diesel variants is on the decline, and it’s predicted that the global sales of diesel-powered cars will fall by up to 40 percent within the next 10 years. Europe, in particular, is moving away from diesel engines. As such, it makes sense that Mitsubishi would want to lessen its diesel options.

Mitsubishi only plans to upgrade its already existing diesel engines, instead of creating new ones. The main models will begin dropping diesel engines through the end of 2021. The only models that will retain their diesel offerings will be a select few SUVs in the U.S. and Europe as well as small trucks. The minivan, the Delica D:5, will also keep its diesel engine in Japan.

It total, less than 20 percent of the vehicles built in the Mitsubishi lineup will include diesel models within two or three years. In 2018, 24 percent of the lineup was comprised of diesel vehicles. Mitsubishi has also been focusing more on SUVs recently in the U.S., with the Mirage and Mirage G4 being the only cars offered here. As such, Mitsubishi seems to be continuing to focus its efforts primarily on a few key models. 

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Other Japanese automakers are also following this trend of limiting the production of diesel vehicles in Europe. It will be interesting to learn more about the specific plans for Mitsubishi diesel models moving forward.