Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and PSA Peugeot Citroën have announced today that the parties have come to an agreement to start a new collaborative project regarding a compact SUV.

This agreement provides for the development and adaptation for both the Peugeot and Citroën marques of a compact SUV, based on an existing Mitsubishi platform.

Launched early 2012 in Europe, these new compact SUVs will have specific designs for Peugeot and Citroën while sharing many components with the Mitsubishi vehicle, named RVR in Japan and ASX here in NZ.

These vehicles will be available in both four- and two-wheel drive. The projected volume for Peugeot and Citroën will reach 50,000 units per year for both brands.

Under the agreement, PSA Peugeot Citroën will use its 1.6 HDi diesel engine snatched from the parts bin for its own models. CO2 emissions with this engine will be particularly low for this type of vehicle, targeting, for the two-wheel drive version, 123g CO2 / km and less than 4.7 litres per 100km fuel economy.

For PSA Peugeot Citroën, the new vehicles will expand the ranges of both Peugeot and Citroën and attract new customers in a market segment they believe will grow worldwide by almost 60% by 2015.

For Mitsubishi Motors, the additional volume will enable it to bolster production of this platform.

This is the 4th cooperative project between the two partners, after the SUV Mitsubishi Outlander, Peugeot 4007 and Citroën C-Crosser agreement in 2005, the construction of a joint plant in Russia that has just been inaugurated, and the European launch in late 2010 of the Peugeot iOn and Citroën C-zero electric vehicles, based on MMC’s Japanese i-MiEV model.

To read a Car and SUV road test of the Mitsubishi Outlander, click here.

To read a Car and SUV road test of the Peugeot 4007, click here.

Gallery