Why Mitsubishi chose Foxtron for its new EV over Nissan, Renault

The ASX VR-e is a new electric vehicle (EV) built by a company that you probably didn't realise even made cars, yet Mitsubishi is confident it's chosen the right partner for one of its most important collaborations to date.

The new small SUV will be Mitsubishi's first EV on sale in Australia in nearly 15 years, arriving at the end of 2026. It's built by Taiwanese brand Foxtron , an automotive joint venture co-owned by iPhone maker Foxconn, and sold overseas as the Bria.

Foxtron was chosen despite the existing three-way Alliance between Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), Nissan, and Renault, from which the Japanese brand could logically have borrowed EVs like the Nissan Leaf – already badged the Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback in North America – or the Renault Scenic E-Tech , sold in Europe as the Eclipse Cross EV.

Mitsubishi Australia (MMAL) already borrows the Renault Captur , which is rebadged and sold as the non-electric ASX both here and in Europe.

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But MMAL CEO Shunichi Kihara reaffirmed MMC's confidence in Foxtron and outlined that Australia and New Zealand were key markets for the ASX VR-e globally.

"MMC in Japan, of course, has the Alliance partnership with Nissan and Renault, but their position is more open to collaborate with other companies where appropriate and possible," he told media, including CarExpert, at the VR-e's first local preview.

"As part of the evaluation study, when they came to the project to bring the battery EV to Australia and New Zealand, they selected Foxtron based on their evaluation results.

"The level of input and involvement [MMAL] had for this program, we are very much satisfied with the collaborative work. We are quite happy with the result."

MMAL's ASX VR-e product strategy manager, Tim Clarke, echoed Kihara-san's comments and expanded on the values that MMC identified as strengths within Foxtron.

"I think MMC, when they reviewed the Foxtron platform and product, they could see the similarities with the ‘Mitsubishi Motors-ness’ that they want from their products, and the pathway to get to that was relatively low-resistance," he told media.

"Foxtron wanted to help; they wanted to grow their product and create export markets. We wanted a product that fits our brand and would work in Australia that we could get access to quickly, so it ticked all those boxes and led to the program that we’re in."

'Mitsubishi Motors-ness' is the brand's internal philosophy guiding all Mitsubishi-badged vehicles. The brand defines it as "embodying and delivering the value of 'Eco-friendly x Safety Technology, Peace of Mind and Comfort'."

It covers factors like vehicle technology, driving performance in all conditions, and reliability and durability, extending to its off-road and electrified lineups. As such, MMAL was entrusted with guiding Foxtron's development of the ASX VR-e to ensure it met those goals.