Eclipse is back — and it is not the sports coupe fans wanted

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Mitsubishi is reviving the Eclipse name, but fans of the old sports coupe should lower their expectations right away. The new model carries the Sportback suffix and arrives as an electric crossover for North America rather than a performance car.

The key detail is the Nissan underpinnings. The Eclipse Sportback will be built on the third-generation Nissan Leaf platform: Mitsubishi is taking a ready-made package from its Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance partner. The move is pragmatic — instead of years of work on an in-house EV, the brand gets a new model to the market faster, in a segment where a crossover is becoming a must.

For now, the company has released only the first images. Judging by them, the Eclipse Sportback will differ from the Leaf with its own front and rear ends, lighting, light signatures and Mitsubishi-branded wheels. Full specs, prices and on-sale dates will be revealed closer to launch.

The technical side will also be borrowed from the Nissan Leaf. In its base trim, the EV uses a 75 kWh battery, a 215 hp electric motor and offers up to 303 miles, or roughly 488 km, of range. How much of that carries over to the Eclipse Sportback, Mitsubishi has yet to confirm.

The model will hit U.S. roads in late summer or early fall 2026 as part of the Momentum 2030 plan: the company promises at least one new or significantly updated vehicle every year through the end of the decade. For Eclipse fans this is a controversial comeback, but for Mitsubishi itself it is a quick path to a modern electric crossover without extra risk.