Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors has announced plans to withdraw from the UK and European market, to focus on core markets where it sees potential, in a bid to cut fixed costs by 20 per cent.

Mitsubishi Motors in the UK has written to its UK franchised retail partners to inform them of the company's plan to freeze the introduction of new models into Europe with immediate effect.

UK importer Colt Car Company (CCC) said that it would attempt to accelerate its plan to bring other emerging brands into the UK to replace the space left vacant by Mitsubishi.

CCC said in a letter to its franchised partners that it “did not, at any point, anticipate receiving this news”.

As many retailers as possible will be retained as part of a parts and aftersales network.

But the planned introduction of the new Eclipse Cross plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) and the next-generation Outlander PHEV will not happen.