Many automakers are busy delving into their archives and digging grand names for the past, attaching them to new vehicles, and tapping into our sepia-tinged memories.
Mitsubishi is no different, with the Grandis the latest nameplate to be exhumed and repurposed. While the original car was a mid-size people mover that, in Australia at least, replaced the Nimbus, the new version is an SUV.
Unlike the first generation car, which was very much a Mitsubishi designed and built product, the new one is a repurposed Renault Symbioz (bottom).
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The Symbioz sits above the Captur in Renault’s SUV range. The two share the same wheelbase, and are practically identical from the B-pillar forward, but the Symbioz has redesigned rear doors, a longer rear overhang, and sharper rear-end styling.
All of this is carried over to the Grandis, but the Mitsubishi version has a unique fornt bumper featuring a gloss black single-frame grille design with chrome slats up top.
Squint and the grille silhouette, if not the detailing, is bit like Lexus’s spindle grille. Headlights and the distinctive S-shaped driving lights are all carried over from the Symbioz.
Around the side Mitsubishi has fitted its own Hybrid EV badges to the door, and the alloy wheels seem to be unique too.
At the back there’s a modified tailgate with flatter surfacing, and wider tail-lights incorporating modified graphics. The bumper has been tweaked ever-so-slightly to incorporate fake vents.
Mitsubishi has replaced all of the chromed lower body highlights with gloss black counterparts to give the Grandis a slightly sportier look than the Renault.
Inside, the only change of note is the airbag cover on the steering wheel, which now has a circular design with a three-diamond badge in the middle. Ahead of this is a 7.0- or 10.0-inch instrumentation display.
A 10.4-inch portrait touchscreen display sits in the middle of the dashboard. It runs Android Automotive, and comes with Google Maps, the Play Store and other services built in.
The drivetrain range has been narrowed down for the Grandis. The base offering is a 1.3-litre turbocharged four-cylinder mild-hybrid petrol with 103kW, and the choice of a six-speed manual or seven-speed automated dual-clutch transmission.
For those wanting a bit more power and efficiency, there’s a 1.8-litre hybrid with 115kW and a ‘multi-mode’ transmission. Pedal to the metal it’s capable of completing the 0-100km/h dash in 8.5 seconds.
Following on from the Clio-based Colt, and Captur-based ASX, the Grandis is the third thinly-disguised Renault-based model Mitsubishi has launched in Europe over the past few years.
As part of reworked Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance announced in 2020, Mitsubishi had initially planned to withdraw completely from Europe to focus on its core markets of the Asia and Oceania.
Not long later, though, the automaker changed course, deciding to stay on the Continent, and use rebadged Renault models to flesh out its range of models.
To date the only rebadged Renault to be sold in Australia as a Mitsubishi was the short-lived Express. The Renault Trafic-based Express debuted in 2020, and was axed in 2022.
Mitsubishi Australia has confirmed it will bring the Captur-based ASX to these shores later this year as a replacement for the ASX that was launched in 2010, and axed locally at the beginning of the year due to local safety standards.
This marks a reversal of roles for the ASX, which in its first generation was restyled, and sold as the Peugeot 4008 and Citroen C4 Aircross as part of a deal with French rivals the PSA Group, which is now part of Stellantis.
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