At Chicago, Mitsubishi showed us they still have a design studio with their GC-PHEV Concept plug-in hybrid SUV concept.
It’s a futuristic robot fighter ship which demonstrates the brand’s future hybrid powertrain systems. Its styling overtures are decidedly different and prove that recent grad students from art school are given a free pen at Mitsubishi.
Inside, the cabin only seats four people even though the concept is nearly the size of a Chevy Tahoe. Room had to be made for all the technologies provided the occupants here such as the “Tactical Table”.
Located in the center of the interior, the touch-screen seeks to provide an interactive experience to all passengers. Mitsubishi explains it “provides an advanced means of two-way communication between the vehicle’s occupants”. Perhaps actually talking is a thing of the past.
Motivating this galactic inter-mountain crawler is a supercharged 3.0 liter V6 and an electric motor which produce a maximum system 335 horsepower delivered through all-four wheels.
Because it is a plug-in hybrid, it can charge at the mother ship, storing 1500 watts of burst power in its lithium-ion battery pack, giving it a 25 mile EV mode range.
More important to survivors of the future, the battery pack and a tank of gas to recharge the battery when necessary can provide nearly two weeks of emergency power to the average household during inter-stellar emergencies.
Overall, it’s a fun concept. If now Mitsubishi could begin impressing us with production vehicles which have some market relevance they might themselves have a future.
