The United States-market Mitsubishi Outlander Sport is 15 years old. The most recent facelift arrived for the 2020 model year, having us wondering when a real replacement might arrive. That’s why our heads were turned when a Mitsubishi dropped a gaggle of images showing a new Outlander Sport headed for South Africa.
If the face looks vaguely familiar, you might know this as the Mitsubishi XForce. It debuted for Indonesia in 2023 with the same T-shaped lights and floating roof motif that defines the exterior styling. It’s a sharper, bolder design compared to the rounded Outlander Sport we know, but beneath the edgy looks exists a front-wheel-drive powertrain. A 1.5-liter four-cylinder engine generates 103 horsepower, sent to the ground through a CVT. For now at least, this is the only drivetrain available.
Photo by: Mitsubishi
Photo by: Mitsubishi
Photo by: Mitsubishi
Should you venture off paved roads, the Outlander Sport has almost 9 inches of ground clearance and decent approach/departure angles of 21.0 and 30.5 degrees, respectively. Despite being two-wheel drive, Mitsubishi claims it’s reasonably capable in sketchy terrain with the help of Wet, Gravel, and Mud drive modes. It also gets Active Yaw Control to quell unsavory actions at higher speeds.
The interior is appropriately modern, with a 12.3-inch center screen and an 8.0-inch screen for the driver. The screens are configurable with multiple displays, including a triple-meter gauge callback to the Mitsubishi Pajero that shows altitude, direction, and a pitch/roll indicator. Soft-touch fabrics cover the dash, and there are still plenty of tactile controls to augment the digital makeover. In back, the rear seat folds down, though the automaker doesn’t say exactly how much cargo space you get.
Aside from basics like anti-lock brakes and airbag systems, blind-spot warning and rear cross-traffic alert are the only available safety tech. That would certainly change if this iteration of the Outlander Sport came to the US market, but that seems unlikely at this point. A Mitsubishi spokesperson told Motor1 that the XForce was never engineered for North America. For now, we’ll have to soldier on with the old version.
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If it did make the leap, the new Outlander Sport has a starting price of around $23,000 given current exchange rates—nearly identical to one currently on sale in the US.