TOKYO - As part of its new Mitsubishi Motors Environment Initiative Program 2015, the automaker plans to introduce eight electric-powered vehicles for the global market by 2015, an interim goal in its Motors Group Environmental Vision 2020 plan and a core aspect of its Jump 2013 mid-term business plan.

The company has not released model details, and declined to say how many of the eight vehicles it announced are slated for the U.S. marketplace, but it did announce some plans for its vehicle lineup for the U.S. First, the company reiterated its intent to deploy its i-MiEV to the North American market in 2012. The company added that it plans to launch plug-in hybrid vehicles in Japan, the United States (according to a Mitsubishi spokesperson, likely a plug-in hybrid in the U.S. by 2013) and Europe. The automaker's goal is to achieve an EV/PHEV production level of at least 5 percent of total volume by 2015. As part of its Vision 2020 plan, the company stated it intends to boost EV production up to 20 percent of total volume.

Mitsubishi also intends to end production of the Galant, Endeavor, Eclipse and Eclipse Spyder at its Normal, Ill. plant by 2014 according to a Mitsubishi spokesperson. The company's spokesperson said it will switch production at that plant to a vehicle based on the same platform as the Lancer, Outlander and Outlander Sport.