Mitsubishi Outlander

It always did seem a logistical nightmare. Mitsubishi's Outlander SUV is made in Japan, but its most popular version uses an engine sent from Volkswagen. Equally worrying for the carbon footprint is that the Outlander's Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C-Crosser clones, also built in Japan, also use European-supplied engines, from PSA. So the engines go from Europe to Japan and back again. But not for much longer. In August this year, Outlander production will start at Mitsubishi's NedCar factory in Holland, where the Colt supermini is already built. The PSA SUV clones will also emerge from NedCar as of January 2009. That will bring the total number of brands to have had cars built in the Born, Holland factory to six. Originally a DAF plant, it was taken over by Volvo which later shared it with Mitsubishi to make the shared-platform S40 and Carisma. After Volvo vacated it, Mitsubishi as part of its former alliance with DaimlerChrysler built the Smart ForFour which shared underpinnings with the current Colt. Now the two French brands will arrive in what must be Europe's most cosmopolitan car plant.