SCOOP! Mini Outlander coming

Mitsubishi plans to launch the RVR, an urban crossover, in India in the second half of 2011. First showcased at the Geneva Motor Show this March, the RVR along with Skoda’s yet-to-be-launched Yeti could give India’s non-existent compact SUV segment a boost.

The all-new compact crossover shares the same platform as the larger Outlander and has the same wheelbase. Yet, its overall dimensions are a segment smaller. The RVR follows Mitsubishi’s current design language, the unmistakable ‘shark nosed’ front end and wedge-shaped lights as seen first on the Evo X and also its elder sibling, the Outlander.

The RVR’s wheelbase is identical to the Outlander’s but the shorter overhangs mean the RVR’s overall length at 4.3 metres is shorter too. Mitsubishi has launched the RVR with a 147bhp 1.8-litre turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine in Japan and it is likely that it will bring in an India-spec model.

The front-wheel-drive four-cylinder diesel engine of the RVR comes with six- speed manual transmission, along with electronic stop-start technology, a fuel-saving feature that will certainly appeal to Indian customers, given the kind of traffic conditions in our cities.

Mitsubishi plans to price the five-seater RVR, which looks like a scaled-down Outlander, at around the Rs 15lakh mark. Will the compact SUV segment take off with the RVR? It’s too early to take a call on that.