Peugeot diesel for Mitsu

AUSTRALIANS’ chances of having access to a diesel version of Mitsubishi’s popular new Outlander have received a shot in the arm following confirmation that a more powerful, Peugeot-sourced turbo-diesel will power the compact 5+2-seater SUV in Europe from later this year.

Mitsubishi Motors Europe (MME) has announced it will use the Frankfurt motor show in September to launch both 2.4-litre petrol and 2.2-litre turbo-diesel versions of its Outlander in Europe, where it is currently powered only by a Volkswagen-sourced 2.0-litre turbo-diesel.

Australia’s Outlander, launched here last year in second-generation guise, already comes with Mitsubishi’s own 2.4-litre MIVEC four-cylinder and 3.0-litre V6 petrol engines, but the availability of a bigger, more powerful engine from France’s PSA Peugeot-Citroen could improve the diesel Outlander’s prospects of a positive business case for Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd (MMAL).

“Given the popularity of diesel in the current market, we were very interested to hear about the diesel Outlander when it was first mooted some time ago,” MMAL’s senior manager corporate communications Lenore Fletcher told GoAuto.



“We have been investigating the feasibility and logistics of introducing it here in our Australian line-up, but to date we haven’t progressed far enough for me to advise anything concrete regarding probability or what the launch dates would be if approved.”

As its Di-D name suggests, the PSA-sourced engine features direct diesel injection and common-rail technology to deliver 116kW at 4000rpm and a Falcon-like 380Nm of torque from just 2000rpm.

That is up from the 104kW and 310Nm produced by the Euro Outlander’s 2.0-litre Di-D engine, which also sees duty (in 103kW/320Nm spec) in Volkswagen’s Golf, Jetta, Passat and Eos models, plus luxury division Audi’s A3 and A4.

Not surprisingly, unlike Europe’s 2.4-litre Outlander, which will also go on sale in the fourth quarter of 2007, the stump-pulling 2.2-litre diesel Outlander comes only in AWD form (not as a 2WD, as the 2.4 is sold in some countries).

However, in what could prove the biggest stumbling block to Australian sales, the Outlander 2.2 Di-D comes only with a six-speed manual transmission.

In Europe, where MME claims the new Outlander has met its target of more than 13,000 sales in the first six months of sales by attracting 80 per cent of buyers from other brands, the Outlander 2.4 is also available with a five-speed manual – in addition to the six-speed CVT gearbox it is exclusively sold with here. But Europe does not get “our” V6/six-speed auto combination.

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