Mitsubishi baby soft-roader to be called RVR

Mitsubishi has announced that its all-new small soft-roader, which was previously known as Concept cX, will be called the RVR. The company is reviving the name from an MPV which was sold in Japan between 1991 and 2002.

The new Mitsubishi RVR will be shorter than the existing Outlander by around a foot and will get a 1.8-litre MiVEC petrol engine under the bonnet. It'll go on sale as a rival for the big-selling, Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai as well as the likes of Ford's Kuga soft-roader, which now sells more models as a two-wheel drive car than a four-wheel drive off-roader.

The RVR goes on sale in Japan next spring followed by Europe, North America and other Asian markets in 2011.