TOKYO — Rebounding Mitsubishi Motors will invest more than $10 billion into electrified vehicles and battery production through 2030 as it expands its battery-powered lineup in advanced markets such as North America, partly by leaning on help from Nissan and Renault.
CEO Takao Kato unveiled the push Friday while announcing a new midterm plan.
The road map focused heavily on electrification but also included a global sales goal of 1.1 million vehicles for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026.
That goal is up from an expected 866,000 units this fiscal year. But the target still does not quite build back to Mitsubishi's pre-pandemic worldwide volume of 1.127 million vehicles.
Kato's electrification plan calls for investing between 1.4 trillion and 1.8 trillion yen ($10.26 billion and $13.19 billion) in R&D and facilities for electrification through 2030.
That will partly fund the rollout of nine new electrified models — including battery-electrics, hybrids and plug-in hybrids — over the next five years. They will be part of a global rollout plan for 16 models overall, including traditional internal combustion vehicles.
"Under the new midterm plan, we will consistently make more investment in R&D and capital expenditure in response to the upcoming era of transformation," Kato said.