european deliveries to retail customers started in october 2013, beginning in the netherlands and followed by the nordic countries, while the introduction in the united states was delayed until 2015. due to california's regulations that require a battery-monitoring unit (bmu), mitsubishi delayed the market launch in the us for the last quarter of 2015. the bmu conducts onboard diagnosis of the outlander's lithium ion battery capacity and output, and it alerts the driver to possible degradation, which might affect the vehicle's emissions. in january 2015 it was rescheduled again. mitsubishi introduced a redesigned version as model year 2017. the latest delays are due to production constraints of the lithium-ion battery pack which could not keep up with worldwide demand. , us deliveries were scheduled to begin by august 2016, however, in july 2016, the release in the us market was postponed one more time, being rescheduled to mid-2017.