Mitsubishi seems to be in no hurry to bring its Outlander PHEV to the US, but the new plug-in SUV has gotten off to a splendid start in Europe. MMC launched the new model in the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland last October, and has already booked over 12,000 orders. It had delivered over 8,000 units by the end of 2013, almost all of them in the Netherlands, which is offering generous tax benefits for buyers of low-emission vehicles.

Mitsubishi will be launching the Outlander PHEV in other European markets throughout 2014, and plans an annual production rate of 50,000 by the end of 2014, with Europe by far the largest market.

The countries of Europe arrived at the electrification party later than the US and Japan, but they are rapidly cranking up the voltage, and Mitsu has positioned itself as a major player. The company predicts that plug-ins will account for 20% of its global sales by 2020, and that most of those plug-in sales will be in Europe.

Source: Mitsubishi via AutoBlog Green
Image: harry_nl/Flickr