The car launched in Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands last October, and has just been approved for the UK government’s plug-in vehicle grant, cutting the price by £5,000. It features electric motors at the front and rear wheels with a power and range-boosting petrol engine, to offer all-electric four-wheel drive at up to 75mph with CO2 emissions of 44g/km.

Sales to date have been heavily weighted towards The Netherlands, where vehicles emitting less than 95g/km are exempt from registration fees and road tax. So far, of the 8,197 units delivered to Europe to date, 8,009 have been sold to Dutch customers, and the range includes two fleet-focused trim levels with rapid charging capability as standard.

Additional units will be available to other European markets through 2014, while continuing to satisfy demand in The Netherlands. Global production will reach 30,000 units by the end of March 2014, while full-year capacity will be more than 50,000 units from the 2014 financial year onwards.

UK pricing for the Outlander PHEV will be announced ahead of its launch this Spring, and Mitsubishi Motors is targeting whole life cost parity with the diesel version, aimed at giving fleet and retail customers a choice of whichever drivetrain best suits their driving patterns.