It’s official, folks. The Mitsubishi Colt is back following its European premiere. Mitsubishi last used the name Colt ten years ago with the previous generation Colt produced from 2002 to 2013. That said, Taiwan still produces a similar model dubbed the Colt Plus and is essentially a stretched version of the last global model.
But instead of building a model from scratch, the revived Colt is heavily based on the present Renault Clio. If anything, it’s a Clio with some styling touches from Mitsubishi. It’s also worth saying that the new Colt also shares its platform with the Nissan Almera and Micra.
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For those familiar with the Clio, some design elements in the Colt might look familiar. The headlights and taillights appear to come from the French hatchback, as well as most of the Colt’s sheetmetal. The Mitsubishi touches include the addition of a ‘Dynamic Sheild’ grille, new front bumpers, tweaked taillights, and a reshaped rear bumper.
As for the interior, the Colt’s cabin design is directly lifted from the Renault. However, the Colt gets a unique instrument cluster design to give it a greater distinction from its French counterpart. There are also minor trim differences, but the look is the same as the Clio.
Moving on to engines, it starts with a non-turbocharged 1.0-liter engine that makes 66hp and 95Nm of torque. For those who want to go a little faster, there is also a booster version of the same engine producing 90hp and 160Nm of torque. Finally, there’s the hybrid option that pairs a 1.6-liter engine with an electric motor. Total system output is rated at 141hp, but the electric motor doles out 205Nm of torque.
So, is it coming to Asia? Well, it doesn’t seem likely as it’s for the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance model offensive in Europe. It will essentially serve as the gas-powered Nissan Micra’s replacement on the continent. The next-generation Nissan Micra on the other hand will be a pure electric model. Sadly, that also means it doesn’t seem that the Colt will replace the decade-old Mirage and Mirage G4 in other parts of the world.
