Today, I'm driving a business-like car. It's no test with 500+ hp, drifting, and hooning.

This'll be a bit of consumer information. We're driving the Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid.

This car is very important for the Dutch market.

More so, it turned Mitsubishi's world upside down in 2012/2013.

Because the car is plug-in electric, it had 0% additional tax liability when it was introduced.

We know how that works in the Netherlands: if something has little or no additional tax liability,

people are standing in line. Mitsubishi usually sells 3,500-4,400 cars a year.

When the Outlander PHEV was introduced, they had 10,000 orders in 10 weeks time.

10,000. Holy crap.

This meant that the Mitsubishi dealers needed extra space, and more manpower.

At some point, the cars were delivered in groups.

The car was introduced just before the turn of the year,

and everyone wanted to register the car before that to get the 0% additional tax liability for 5 years.

Mitsubishi again announced right before an additional tax liability transition another Outlander PHEV.

Let's start with the looks.

You'll recognize the new Outlander by the nose, because it now has a dynamic shield.

We had no idea what that meant either, but it's what the designers call the new nose,

especially the 2 brushed aluminum trims hugging the headlights and grille.

The designers say it was inspired by the old Pajero and SUVs.

We found some. See if you can spot the similarities.

We thought it was difficult. Spoiler alert, but we thought it was difficult to spot the similarities.

At the rear, the taillights turned red, there's a new trim, and the bumpers are different.

I think the rear looks better, because the transparant lights from the previous Outlander PHEV are ugly.

It's the Lexus-look from the IS200 some years ago, but cheaper. It looks a lot better now.

The interior got an upgrade as well. It got a facelift, and more expensive materials were used.

Or rather, the press conference guy said expensive looking materials were used.

It looks more expensive, but it apparently isn't.

It looks nice. Not very sexy, but business-like. This suits the car, because that's today's theme.

Another important change is that the Outlander is more quiet.

The result is that an extra 77 lb needs to be lugged around.

Not all of this is isolation material, but a large part is.

It's also because the rear side windows are 0.14 inches thick. This used to be 0.12 inches.

Apparently, this is a major difference.

Then there are changes to the suspension, front and back.

Especially at the front. In Europe we get a special subframe with thicker, more sturdy steel.

The Mitsubishi guy talked about this for 5 minutes, and we just concluded it was better.

New subframe. Cool. Don't expect sporty handling, because that won't happen.

Come on, it's an Outlander.

Don't expect too much of it.

The engines didn't change much. It has 200 hp combined power by 2 electric motors front and back

and a combustion engine up front. The CO2 emissions are lowered from 44 to 42 grams.

This kills nature, because trees need CO2. Driving electric is very relaxed.

It's smooth. If it needs the combustion engine, it starts very subtly. You don't notice much.

The one thing you do notice is when you need more power, it starts howling.

They made the car more quiet, but it's still not very pleasant to your ears.

This suits the type of car, and let's be honest; people who buy it don't really care.

If you love driving, you don't buy a car like this. You buy this car out of commercial reasons.

The people who buy these cars reflect this. 98% of the Outlander PHEVs are company cars.

A large part is leased; 60-65%.

So yea, it's for people who want to drive from A to B in a sizable car,

but don't want to pay much or no additional tax liability.

Speaking of which: this car gets introduced at the right moment for Mitsubishi.

It sits right before the introduction of new additional tax liability rules.

Starting January 1, plug-in hybrids go to 15% additional tax liability.

Now, they're still at 7%.

Starting next year, they go up step by step to the same 22% where all the other cars will end up.

These steps are made 'til 2020, but the first big step is made on January 1.

If you want 7% additional tax liability for the next 5 years, you may want to order this thing now.

The only thing you'll have to do, is to charge.

Always the same jerks who buy a car like this and do 14 mpg, full throttle in the left lane,

too lazy to put the plug in at home. I think that's not done.

Dammit. I pay road taxes for this.

So you should plug in, OK?

Subtitles - Maru's Text Support