Mitsubishi confirms UK return for 2026
After five years away, Mitsubishi will sell cars in the UK again next year - dare we hope for something fun?
A big few days for the Japanese carmaker that begins with ‘M’ and isn’t Mazda (or Mitsuoka); on Friday Gorgon City released a track called ‘Mitsubishi’ (one for your gym playlist), and now it’s been confirmed that Mitsubishi will sell cars in the UK again from 2026. You can’t move for Mitsubishi news this November.
The news comes four years after sales were wound up; in autumn 2021, Mitsubishi became an aftersales-only business here, having sold cars in the UK since 1974. International Motors Group ran the operation, which made sense given its long history with the brand, and will once again now serve as the importer and distributor for Mitsubishi. It’s said that additional sites (beyond the 110 aftersales centres) are being sorted as showrooms for next year, though they haven’t been confirmed yet. Sharon Townsend, Head of Mitsubishi Motors in the UK, said: “We’re delighted to be introducing exciting new Mitsubishi vehicles to our loyal UK customers. Over the past few years, we’ve continued to see enthusiasm for the brand, which has strongly influenced this decision. By building on our trusted aftersales network and dedicated retailer partners, we are committed to providing an exceptional ownership experience.”
What those cars are going to be, we don’t know yet. According to Mitsubishi Europe’s CEO Frank Krol, there are new models coming that “represent the very best of Mitsubishi Motors’ core technologies in performance, four-wheel drive, and much more”, which sounds vaguely encouraging. We’re probably oversimplifying the situation here, though the combination of legendary Mitsubishi nameplates with the 4WD possibilities of electrifications feels like an avenue very much worth pursuing. Imagine an unstoppable Shogun with battery power, or - yes, we’re going there - an electric Evo to rival the Hyundai Ioniq 6 N. Stranger things have happened, surely.
Certainly anything has to be more interesting, and more appealing to UK customers, than the current global offering. There’s still an Outlander PHEV going, but it’s no longer 2015 and it doesn’t hold a key advantage over rivals any more. The Eclipse Cross and Mirage look no more exciting than they used to, and the less said about the Destinator, the XPander and the XForce, the better. Probably we’re just going to get L200s once more, but it’s hard not to be just a bit hopeful when the European CEO talks of performance and four-wheel-drive. When Mitsubishi, for a long time, made one of the best known and best loved 4WD performance cars on the planet. Fingers crossed, eh. We’ll be in the classifieds in the meantime.
Have also had a few Shoguns and eyed up the last model a few times but just don't need that spec over the Outlander.
Yay: Always good to see an old name return. Plenty of legacy and latent fondness for Mitsubishi, particularly L200, Shogun and Lancers.
Boo: twice in my 18 years in the motor trade I found myself working for dealer groups with Mitsubishi franchises: 1992-97 and 2008-10. Both times they were viewed as a "hobby", rather than a viable concern. Yes, they sold a few expensive Shoguns with fat margins attached, but most were run by the dealer principal and sometimes lent to us as reward cars for doing well. Occasionally a few well-specced double-cab L200s were bought by financially astute, self-employed types who ran them as commercial vehicles (as far as HMR&C were concerned, anyway). Latterly, some well-heeled enthusiasts bought Lancer Evolutions. But the franchises I was involved with (Peugeot, Toyota, Honda, Suzuki) outsold them convincingly. The "less-specialist" stuff just didn't add up: why would you buy a Colt CZT when you could have a Swift Sport?
I hope they succeed, but I suspect they'll need to find some as-yet untapped niche to fill, and it'll need to be a profitable one. I reckon they either need to return to their old business model (high-end stuff, expensive but high quality), and price them more competitively, or stick to small, affordable EVs and the like. Don't go back to trying to do both.
And the “new” Delica unveiled last month is a second facelift of the current model…
I guess it’s among the “oldest” vehicles still on sale today.
I'm not sure why they'd come back, they'll just get pasted in sales by the Koreans and the Chinese.
I was excited to see them come back, thinking this could be the replacement for the old colt
But yes, Renault badge swap job
Other than the colt owner I know, I can’t think of anyone who owns a Mitsubishi
Now cars have large residuals and are attractive to sell, especially Mitsus range of dumpy SUVs.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff