Outlander PHEV 20pc price cut; Joe Duffy’s Connacht ‘first’; Confused?

MITSUBISHI’S new Outlander PHEV (pictured right) goes on sale next month, and the company is claiming a 20pc reduction in price.

The entry-level Intense starts from €39,900 (Instyle from €43,900, S-Edition from €47,500, including VRT reduction and SEAI grant).

Mitsubishi has confirmed a WLTP rating of 46g/km (5g/ km up from the old NEDC protocol and still costs €170 to tax. The firm claims a pure EV driving range of 45km.

The Joe Duffy Group has acquired Motorpark Athlone. It will be re-branded Joe Duffy Ford Athlone.

Group chief executive officer Gavin Hydes says it’s their second Ford passenger car and commercial vehicles dealership.

He adds: “This will be our first business in Connacht and increases our national footprint.”

The number of franchises in the Group is now 20, with 440 people employed. James Barry Motors, on the Dock Road in Limerick has been appointed as a new Citroen dealership.

It is run by husband and wife team James and Diane Barry. We wish them all the best.

Western Motors, Galway, has been appointed aftersales dealer for Mercedes vans and light commercials.

Car manufacturers may be confusing people with complicated names for ordinary bits and pieces of technology. That’s a fair comment, I think, from MotorEasy, which goes on to lambast baffling lingo by automakers.

I do think they have a point. Some abbreviations and ‘names’ are difficult to grasp and must be explained.

But then, ironies of ironies, MotorEasy drastically undermine its own criticism. It describes itself as “a SwaS provider” (a what?) that brings the global DIFM revolution (what?) to the automotive sector.

Mercedes is to show its next-generation GLE and GLE coupe sports utilities at the imminent Paris motor show. There will be new plug-in hybrid variants too as it takes the battle to the BMW X5 and X6 models.