What's all this about?
Mitsubishi is, in the words of Eddy Grant, going to rock down to Electric Avenue for the Paris Motor Show, by displaying a load of electrified vehicles for the punters.
Which one is the company's star attraction?
It's the GT-PHEV Concept SUV, which looks like an origami cross between an Outlander and a Range Rover Evoque. It is powered by not one, not two but three electric motors, split one to the front and two at the rear. It has been designed for 'cruising across a vast land' (Australia? Sudan? Mongolia?), because its total range is 1,200km - or 750 miles, in proper distance. On full electric power alone, it can do a tenth of that without touching its fuel reserves.
Oh, what combustion engine is fitted?
Not entirely sure; Mitsubishi says it is a motor 'designed especially for the PHEV system featuring improved electricity generation performance and motive performance'. Which could mean an upgraded version of the 2.0-litre normally aspirated petrol four powering the current Outlander PHEV, or - hopefully - a unit that's a little more advanced. The GT-PHEV also has Super All Wheel Control vehicle dynamics.
How about the interior?
There's a dashboard with a wrap-around design and a load of Burgundy leather trim. Mitsubishi also says the GT-PHEV adopts the latest in connected car technology, with vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications ensuring the SUV is always aware of the traffic along the route, road conditions and the state of the weather. Which will be rubbish, if the vast land it happens to be driving across is the English midlands, for instance.
What else will be on Mitsubishi's Paris stand?
The eX Concept (a smaller SUV powered by a next-generation EV system) and the 2017MY European-spec ASX, Outlander and Outlander PHEV models. The Outlander is said to have a new floor console and improved interior trim quality, as well as the Forward Collision Mitigation System, Blind Spot Warning and other active safety systems.
Matt Robinson - 16 Sep 2016