- Mitsubishi’s oldest SUV nearly doubled its sales in the first quarter.
- The Outlander Sport dates back to 2010 and has had three facelifts.
- Newer Outlander and Outlander PHEV both lost nearly half their buyers.
Car buyers don’t always follow logic, and Mitsubishi’s latest sales figures prove it. Demand for the aging Outlander Sport has surged across the US this year, even as interest in the larger, far more competent and modern Outlander continues to slip. It’s an odd reversal, especially when the latter is easily the brand’s strongest offering.
Read: Toyota’s Most Forgettable SUV Outsold Mitsubishi’s Entire Lineup
In the first three months of the year, Mitsubishi moved 12,076 Outlander Sport models, marking a massive 74.8% jump from the 6,910 sold in Q1 last year. It’s not just a rebound, either. This is the model’s best opening quarter since 2021, when sales hit 15,356 units. Since then, the numbers had steadily dropped to 3,707 in Q1 2022, 4,613 in Q1 2023, and 4,569 in Q1 2024, making this year’s spike all the more surprising.
To put that in perspective, the Outlander Sport alone accounted for nearly half (45%) of everything Mitsubishi sold in the United States this past quarter.
No doubt a strong part of the Outlander Sport’s appeal is the fact that it’s quite affordable, starting at $24,995. However, that doesn’t change the fact that this is an SUV that dates back to 2010 and has been facelifted three times in the past 16 years. It was adequate when it first launched, but it’s now shockingly outdated.
It’s also worth mentioning that while the Outlander Sport is cheap, there are plenty of other SUVs that cost about the same, and yet are much more modern. These include the Hyundai Venue, Chevrolet Trax, Nissan Kicks, Kia Seltos, Hyundai Kona, and the Toyota Corolla Cross, all of which are objectively better than the Mitsubishi.
Eclipse Cross Thrives
It’s not just the Outlander Sport that’s enjoyed a strong start to 2026. The Eclipse Cross, which is also starting to show its age, experienced an 83.7% surge in sales for the quarter, climbing from 3,731 to 6,852 units.
In contrast, demand for the Outlander and Outlander Plug-In Hybrid models has fallen off a cliff. Through the first three months of last year, Mitsubishi sold 11,992 Outlanders and 1,703 plug-in hybrid versions. This year, sales of the standard model have slipped to just 6,780 (-43.5%), while sales of the PHEV have dropped to 1,144 (-32.8%). As the Mirage rides off into the sunset, its sales have also dropped from 7,301 to just 29 units (-99.6%).
Despite the success of the Outlander Sport and Eclipse Cross, overall Mitsubishi sales were down from 31,637 last year to 26,884 in the first quarter, a significant decline of -15.0%.
