The Mitsubishi XFC prototype SUV has been spotted in Indonesia, which means it’s on track to be unveiled this year.
It can be said that Mitsubishi was one of the first automakers to introduce a vehicle that combined the benefits of an SUV with the handling and efficiency of a car.
In fact, the Mitsubishi ASX was one of the very first compact crossover SUVs, introduced relatively early in the development of this segment.
Since then however, the compact crossover SUV segment has grown dramatically, and there are now many different models available from various automakers. This gave the ASX a lot of competition, which ultimately dwindled down its popularity.
But Mitsubishi is not giving up on this segment, because spotted in Indonesia recently seems to be Mitsubishi’s new B-segment SUV.
It wasn’t that long ago that Mitsubishi announced that they are working on a B-segment SUV for the ASEAN market. They even introduced a concept car last year, called XFC, and said it would be the basis of their new SUV. They even added that the new SUV would be introduced and sold this year.
The SUV’s progress is definitely on track because the prototype car was spotted in Indonesia recently. Although it is fully wrapped in camouflage, we can tell that the car has pretty much stayed true to the shape of the XFC concept car – just like how the Mitsubishi Xpander stayed true to its concept car, the Mitsubishi XM.
Youtube channel, Sigimedianet Pictures who caught the prototype car even showed it being escorted by a couple of black Mitsubishi Xpanders, where all three were barreling down the fast lane.
The underpinnings of the spotted SUV is still a mystery, but many are speculating that a lot of mechanical parts will be carried over from the Xpander, which means it should be equipped with a 1.5-litre naturally aspirated four-cylinder MIVEC engine, good for 105PS and 141Nm of torque.
There’s no doubt that crossover SUV will probably be a front-wheel drive SUV, but when Mitsubishi introduced the XFC concept car last year, they mentioned that it would come with four interesting driving modes, Normal, Gravel, Mud and Wet, where the Wet mode was explicitly created for drivers in ASEAN countries.
How this would work remains to be seen, but the Wet mode seems interesting as it always rains heavily in ASEAN and our country.
This SUV will probably not be called the ASX, but it’ll definitely be the ASX replacement for the ASEAN market as the original compact Mitsubishi SUV still lives on in Europe, even if it is just a completely rebadged Renault Captur.