Last year Mitsubishi showed off its Engelberg Tourer SUV concept to mixed reviews. The strange fascia design was expected to morph into something with more appeal. But this spy photo from Allcarnews reveals what is an almost exact copy of that concept front end. It’s bonked onto this otherwise conventional Outlander SUV. Taken as a whole can you believe how the 2022 Mitsubishi Outlander SUV looks?

The 2022 Outlander is an unfortunate mix of so many elements fighting each

It is an unfortunate mix of so many elements all fighting each other to try and divert you from those giant “fly eyes” on each side. Mitsubishi calls the design language Dynamic Shield. But we’ll all need something to shield us from the confluence of bad features all mushed together. 

Most often we hold too much praise or criticism for a design until after we see it driving down the highway. In this case, we don’t need to wait. Having seen the Engelberg Tourer concept and seeing this spy image means we’ve already seen too much. And wish to never see it again, which is mostly easy with Mitsubishi products.

Few Outlanders are sold in the US

That’s because so few Outlanders are sold in the US. Sales in 2018 and 2019 grew to around 40,000 but where we are in the Los Angeles area we just never see them. We see more 25-year-old Japanese Kei cars on the 405 freeway than Outlanders. Still, those numbers are better than back in 2012 when Mitsubishi sold under 8,000 of the SUVs. 

Last year Mitsubishi product manager Owen Thompson told Australia’s Practical Motoring that the next Outlander would be larger than the current version. “Yes, it’s a big change,” he said. “Yeah, we’ll see what comes of it but more space doesn’t necessarily mean it’s longer.” Now that we’ve seen the front end we think that a longer version might help this Outlander’s proportions more. But note that Thompson never mentioned it was better or an improvement over the 2020 Outlander. 

It is expected that the current Outlander plug-in hybrid electric power plant will continue in this new Outlander. There is also a chance Nissan’s 2.5-liter might also find its way into the SUV. Both Mitsubishi and Nissan are alliance partners. 

The Outlander chassis and key portions of the platform will likely be shared with Nissan

The chassis and other key portions of the platform will also likely be shared with Nissan. So, unless there is a significant difference in price or features you can opt for what we think is the better-looking Nissan Armada instead. Unless that jumble of different design elements and odd-looking lights is appealing to you. And far be it for us to suggest you look elsewhere. 

Let’s just hope that between now and the end of 2021, which is when it is expected to be available, Mitsubishi calms down that unfortunate face. If the tooling is complete, possibly through painting some combination of body color and black it can disguise what is otherwise a mish-mosh of unfortunate elements. 

Mitsubishi needs a good shot in the arm to keep it from going away altogether. But this new Outlander looks like they just shot themselves in the foot.