Great news! The Mitsubishi Eclipse is back. It’s been such a long time since the Japanese carmaker offered the sports coupe it originally introduced back in 1990, and also offered to Chrysler to sell as the Sebring Coupe … hold on, I’m getting more information in my Autopian Earpiece that’s handed out to contributors and usually wakes me up in the middle of the night thanks to time zones.
There’s some static, perhaps because Jason made it out of discarded Changli parts and it might have gotten dropped a few times while being mailed to me.
It’s an EV? It’s based on the Nissan Leaf? Right. Do I need to scrap the 1000 words I already wrote about the Eclipse’s glorious history as an AWD sports coupe? Fine!
So yes, the Mitsubishi Eclipse is coming back as the Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback for 2027. While Mitsubishi already brought back the Eclipse name with the Eclipse Cross nearly a decade ago, this is actually the third time the carmaker is putting the name on a crossover. One more time and there will have been as many SUV-clipses as there were DSMs.
In Europe, the 2025-on Eclipse Cross is in fact the 2024-onwards Renault Scenic E-Tech with a very light design refresh on it. As Renault vehicles are not sold in the United States or Canada (the closest place is either Mexico or St Pierre & Miquelon) the EV Eclipse rebrand of choice for the North American market is the new generation Nissan Leaf.
As press releases come, the Mitsubishi newsletter about the new Eclipse Sportback is frank about the car’s Nissan origins. As Mitsubishi puts it:
New BEV will be sourced from Mitsubishi Motors’ Alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. and based on the next-generation Nissan LEAF
Working with Alliance partner Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi Motors will introduce the new Eclipse Sportback EV to the North American market as a 2027 model in the second half of this year. Based on the highly touted new-generation Nissan LEAF, the Mitsubishi Motors Eclipse Sportback EV will offer cosmetic changes that differentiate the two vehicles and make this model uniquely Mitsubishi.
The sporty electric subcompact SUV will feature unique front and rear fascias that echo other vehicles in Mitsubishi Motors’ global lineup, distinct front and rear lights and lighting signatures, striking and sporty alloy wheels and, of course, the brand’s iconic Triple Diamond branding.
Looking at the front of the Eclipse Sportback, the new headlight units are similar-looking as on the Nissan, but the front grille trim piece as well as the complete front bumper are redesigned for Mitsubishi. The rear bumper is also redesigned, with the bottom edge of the tailgate forming a new line for the bumper to give it a more pronounced lower section.
While the tail lights are new, with arrow-shaped elements, the reflectors in the rear bumper are likely to be the same as on the Leaf, just turned around. The tailgate also has a new body-coloured middle section with a wide MITSUBISHI script, compared to the blacked-out part on the Leaf.
On the side, the Eclipse Sportback’s window surround receives a new metal strip that does make it look a touch more premium than the Leaf, and the new three-spoke wheels are cool with their blade shapes. Even though it’s fair to call it a rebadged version of the Leaf, some thought has gone into giving the car custom front and rear end parts to clearly separate it from the Nissan, instead of simply changing the badges over.
While no interior photos have been released yet, expect a slightly different steering wheel and infotainment software that shows the diamond logo instead of the Nissan emblem.
And if the Eclipse really needed to be a Nissan Leaf, they couldn’t have picked a better time for it. While the first-generation Leaf was a pioneer when it was launched over 15 years ago, it aged quickly (partly thanks to its air-cooled battery pack instead of a longer lasting liquid cooled battery) and its reliance on the CHAdeMO charging standard helped direct it toward obsolesce – the second generation Leaf was virtually damned by the same charging standard in markets where CCS or NACS have become the widely accepted standard. The third generation car seems far more future proof.
This time, the third gen Leaf is fast charged using CCS or NACS depending on the market (still using CHAdeMO in Japan, where it is the dominant standard), and at triple the speed of the usual 50kW of the older cars, with available battery preconditioning to speed up cold weather DC charging. It is the first Nissan vehicle to be NACS compatible, and it shares its Common Module Family architecture with the bigger Nissan Ariya. There will be no rear motor to enable all-wheel-drive, which also means there won’t be an AWD Eclipse Sportback.
In The Autopian’s review by Sam Abuelsamid, the 2026 Leaf was also found to ride and drive far better than earlier generations, which bodes well for the Eclipse Sportback. Even if it would take an in-person test for me to make sure, I also expect the driving position to be improved in the third generation Leaf – one of the things that stuck out in the earlier Leafs was the tiresome driving position no matter how I adjusted the seat or the wheel.
The 2026 Nissan Leaf was launched with a 75kWh battery pack, with a smaller 52kWh version announced for later. Mitsubishi hasn’t yet announced any specifics for the Eclipse Sportback, from technical details to pricing, or on-sale date, but says they will be released in the near future. The new Leaf starts from $29,990 in S+ trim, and it will be interesting to see if Mitsubishi can keep the Eclipse Sportback below $30k as well.
In its press release, Mitsubishi also calls its earlier i-MiEV the world’s first mass-produced electric vehicle, which is up for some debate: would you call the GM EV1 mass-produced as over 1100 were built? In any case, the first generation Nissan Leaf was unveiled at Nissan’s Yokohama headquarters on August 2nd, 2009, while the i-MiEV started its fleet sales in July of 2009 and customer sales on April 1st, 2010.
The companies were close enough in their pioneering EV launches, that for Mitsubishi to begin selling what is in effect a rebranded Leaf is worth noting in retrospect. Me? I’ll just be watching and rewatching this old Eclipse commercial from 1990. I still like it a lot.
(Photos: Mitsubishi Motors unless otherwise noted)
This is going into a pretty crowded field. How abut making it taller, have the roof and doors come off and sell it for $45,000. It would kill the Recon(at 65k) and make something unique.
Does it come in Turd Brown as a color option? Cause that’s the appeal it gives off
Ignoring the nameplate, Mitsubishi is getting the better end of the model swap with Nissan (the Outlander PHEV isn’t excellent). I hope they give the base trim an optional cold weather package and/or maintain the 303mi range in higher trims instead of sacrificing range with draggier wheels.
I would typically agree, but Nissan is a full line automaker here, that had a PHEV gap, and now has a relatively unique powertrain to offer people who go to the Nissan dealer. Have a person show up who seems very concerned about efficiency? They have a vehicle to show them.
Mitsubishi needs vehicles that actually draw people to their extremely rare and often neglected dealerships. As of right now, they don’t really have anything to do that. Unless they actually plan to advertise the existence of this car, which, I’m doubtful of.
I guess I’m confused as to why anyone would go to one of these rare Mitsubishi dealers/used car dealers instead of the half dozen likely closer Nissan ones, to get the same car with weirder details.
Looks serviceable although a bit hippy.
counterpoint : the eclipse was never a sports car it was an economy car with bigger engines available and the GSX was a compelling vehicle but they produced a very small number of them.
counterpoint 2: Eclipse is a BADASS car name just unfortunate Mitsubishi doesn’t have a badass vehicle to attach it to.
as far as a badge engineering job the Mitsubishi version actually looks better between the grille, the dark trim and the wheels it looks sharp.
Agree; I always classify the original Eclipse as a sport coupe (yeah, I know technically not, but bear with me) – 2 door cars of modest origin and price that nonetheless had decent style and could often be optioned up for true performance. The 80s and 90s were the heyday of this type of car, a type that’s basically gone now as everyone wants the same personal/cargo transportation pod experience.
False.
People who want transportation pods buy them new or lease them, contributing to the maker’s bottom line. Enthusiasts, on the other hand, generally buy cars used, denying any profit to the maker.
They’ve caught on to this, and now don’t consider us to be worth investing product in.
Which why I try buying new sportscars / sporty cars as much as I can.
the average age of “new car buyers” are 52 years old. the domgraphic scews older so people buying their “retirement cars” “dream cars” or people who are later in their career and can afford something “nice”. because of the rising costs of esentials utilities, housing, groceries and stagnent wages the lower end of incomes are being squeezed out of new cars and so the concept of buying a new car for the “funsies” is entirely foreign unless you have a six figure salary or just make questionable personal finance decisions.
Well this one did it. It was a total eclipse of my heart. Totally blocked any love I might have for it.
These four words don’t belong in the same sentence. 🙁
I dunno – I tried a Volvo EX30, and it was definitely sporty, electric, subcompact, and technically an SUV. A shame that the interior UI made me incredibly angry.
At least it’s rear wheel drive…
Actually the most repeated concept on that sentence is “sporty”.
Neat, an Eclipse that looks kinda like a Ferrari.
COTD
You win.
Be honest now. Who WASN’T hoping this would be a rebadged Nissan EV? My biggest problem with Nissan was always that they were so open about being a Nissan.
This solves that.
Even though the Model Y predates the Leaf and this Mitsubishi, it somehow manages to look like a cheap knock-off version of them. I think it’s because someone at least made an effort in styling these (not saying they’re beautiful, just that there was effort), and the Tesla looks like someone’s used bar of soap.
I think the Y is more of a scaled-up Apple Desktop Bus Mouse II (models M2706, M2707) from 1993. Soap or Mouse? would make for a spirited panel discussion at an Autopian live event.
I hate this era of vehicle design.
My belief that marketing and branding departments know neither the meaning of words, nor live in the same objective reality as the rest of us is rapidly solidifying. This is most definitely a Mitsubishi Leaf.
For all that car companies like to bang on about “history” and “design DNA” and “heritage”, they are awfully quick to dilute that – see the Mach E, the *last* “Eclipse”, the new Blazer, and so on, and so forth.
Either that or they’ve so deeply internalized the attention economy idea of social media that “all engagement is good” and nothing drives engagement like rage-bait, so that’s what they’re going to do forevermore. Witness us discussing this thing, rather than ignoring it as we would if they called it something like the Colt or Outlander E.
Limited Edition
Sport
Super Sport
Grand Touring / Gran Tourismo
“Limited Edition” = “We’re going to make more of these than the regular trim and bump the price 5%”
“Sport” = “Exactly as fast as the non-sport, but with more expensive, less comfortable tires and wheels, and an ornamental spoiler”
“Super Sport” = “Same as the Sport, but with blacked out trim and a higher sticker, with even less comfortable wheel and tire package”
“Grand Touring / GT” = “Cripples your back after 30 minutes and can’t fit two regular suitcases in the trunk”
I’ve spent over a decade in the marketing business including seven years at an ad agency. Everything you said is simultaneously true. Thankfully I now work on the data and analytics side of things, so I don’t have to deal with the people that come up with that kind of shit any more.
Sorry, Colt is already taken by a rebadged previous generation Clio.
Yep. It’s trash.
They should put the asymmetric bulge back on the hood. It was a fake on the lower models anyway.
Are you sure this isn’t the mid-cycle refresh of the Ferrari Luce being leaked?
UhhhhhHHHHHhhhhh
“And be based on” in the same sense that the Nissan Rogue PHEV is “Based on” the Outlander. Still better than the generic piece of rental car nothingness that is the outgoing Eclipse Cross.
The real story here is that people with bad credit history will be able to buy a Leaf for only 240 easy monthly payments.
My biggest issue with purchasing a Nissan Leaf was that the local Nissan dealer was just too close by, and that they won’t abuse me quite as badly as I would like. You know, really stuff me in the gimp suit and staple protection package brochures all over my body. The sort of borderline safe word stuff that Nissan just wasn’t willing to go on a journey with me.
But now I can travel 40 miles further and get the new car buying experience that Nissan just wasn’t willing to offer. Congrats masochists, the Mitsubishi Eclipse Sportback is here!
You answered the question if there’s room on the internet for a FetLife/Autopian crossover web site.
I’m sure Torch answered that question within the first few weeks of the website’s existence, lol.
as someone having to find a Mitsu dealer I trust for Lancer support:
COTD
(alternately, maybe I should just treat this as a trial run for owning something like a Tatra or an Amphicar and pretend that none of the dealerships exist)
Lol.
I think when we analyze new car launches, we often forget about how people buy new cars. Which is mostly through dealers.
Here’s a fun one. Guess how many Mitsubishi dealers are located in the state of Connecticut.
TWO. That’s right, two dealers, for a state population of 3.7 million. Both on the west side of the state. Hartford doesn’t even have one! And that dealer that might be an hour away, you have to hope doesn’t suck. And even more, you have to hope that it doesn’t go out of business.
I can’t really understand why anyone would go out of their way to buy this over the Nissan equivalent.
I’ve asked around if there’s a good Mitsu dealer around here and the answer I’ve gotten so far is “no.”
GOSHDARNIT, FARTFORD.
The Eclipse has to be a CUV. If it isn’t tall and bulky, how is it supposed to block your view of anything?
It’ll have to be cheaper than the Leaf, since it’s the same car but uglier.
Is it just a fastback Leaf or is it going to be bigger?
Ope, nevermind. I found the line. just a Mitsu Leaf
Neither; it’s the same.
Zombie Mitsubishi is not as fun or interesting as I thought it would be.
How the mighty has fallen.
I know it is just a name but still…..
They should really call this one the Eclipsed because it has been.
Total Eclipse of The Leaf
As a former DSM owner of a ’91 Talon AWD and later a ’97 Eclipse GSX Mitsubishi can fuck all the way off with this “Eclipse”. If they want to reheat a name from the past why not Montero or Pajero or cripes anything other than this?
Because other than the Talon TSI, Eclipse is the only Mitsubishi name that people really cared enough about to like.
Yeah, why on earth can’t this be a Lancer, as that nameplate could come on everyday fare?
Lancer EVo, perhaps?
Amazing. Take your smiley.
“Hey look, we’ve ruined yet another thing you people liked!”
the electric LanEvo was a thing in the 2000s
dEVamante?
Sure the Diamante was a larger sedan, but then we are just throwing names on whatever here.
ABSOLUTELY NOT
What? You didn’t like the Cordia or Tredia? /s
Honestly never heard of those. I grew up in the northern Midwest in a small town. Everybody drove Chevys, Fords, and Dodges. There just weren’t foreign car dealerships in the area. I had to go away to college before I ever saw a Dodge Colt with the “Imported for Dodge” emblem.
I owned a Tredia turbo, and, apart from the fuel injectors exploding that one time and the cat clogging up, It was a fun little car.
Cordia had a great dash. And all red interior!
https://importarchive.com/brochure/mitsubishicordia1983_01
I mean, Cordia would at least sort of fit. It plugs into a cord!
This thing is as “Eclipse” as my farts are a Porsche 917.
I suggest Colt EV or Outlander EV, as there are very few people passionate about either of those.
Colt is already a rebadged last-gen Clio. So Outlander it must be, I guess.
Just following along with Ford’s use of “Mustang”. Expect to see boring electric crossover Firebirds, Camaros, GTOs, and (God help us) Miatas coming any day now.
Ford at least still makes a real Mustang, Mitz hasn’t made a real Eclipse since ’99.