Motor Trend reports Mitsubishi ...

[M_TYPE_X]

... is making contigency plans to pull out of the US market.
Sales are down from 345K [2002] and plunging toward 115K this year or next.
That's a 66% drop.

Discuss.

[NissT]

I don't think there is anything that could save Mitsubishi in USA.

Reliability - "bad" is embedded in people's minds
Quality - "bad" is embedded in people's minds
Design - bland Enterprise parkign lot
Performance - let's forget about EVO for a second and there is NONE
Fuel Efficiency - "bad" is embedded in people's minds

So other than huge incentives, there is no reason to even go to Mitsu dealership.

It would probably take decades to change people's perception about points mentioned above, so I think they just decided to take losses and get out.

If Mitsu will still be alive in, say, 10 years, they can try to come back and see if people will give them another chance. But Mitsu has got to do a lot of homework next time.

[camber]

Follow Hyundai' recent success.....

Scrap the lineup with a few exceptions.

Invest in making good reliable econo cars at low/cheap prices and offer class leading extended warranties.

Build business off of repeat buyers of low end/econo models to progressively higher content models with higher prices.

[WhereHaveYouBeen]

Come on guys, they're not THAT bad. I mean they built the Zero Fighter Planes...those were good, right?

[M_TYPE_X]

Like Renault, losing your dealer network is bad if you want to make a comeback.

Come on guys, they're not THAT bad. I mean they built the Zero Fighter Planes...those were good, right?

Then why did the Japanese military instruct their pilots to crash them?
Because that's what the planes did best!

[palmerwmd]

The Zero was oen of the top 4 fighter planes of the War along with the FW190, P51 and Spitfire.

Like the BF109 when in the beginning of its design life there was little that was as good an all rounder as it.

Back to Mitsu.

I thought they were boucnig back a lil lately?

EVen if Mitsubishi does re-trench why not keep a given fraction of the delaer network just to sell/serve Evo's.

Evo's will always find buyers.
Not only that but it would serve to focus M as a Sports Brand.

Fred...:auto:

[SimpleS14]

Evo's will always find buyers.
Not only that but it would serve to focus M as a Sports Brand.

That's rather difficult when the other cars in your lineup are not "sporty" , "fun" , "practical" or "entertaining".

[Madmaster]

Do they really have that many reliability problems? I know someone with a couple outlanders and they've been great, though bland, little cars. Decade ago when my dad had a Plymouth Voyager, the only damn thing on the car that didn't fail was the Mitsubishi engine lol.

About their warranty - they currently do have the #1 Warranty in America, 10 year 100k I believe. They just don't advertise it quite like the way Hyundai does.


Sporty/Fun - Eclipse, kinda. Driven my sister's GT, things reasonably quick and refined.

Practical - Lancer wagon, but you see more Q45s than you do those. Outlander is fairly practical. Galant doesn't seem too bad. Test drove an Endeavour a while back and I thought that was good machine.

Entertainment - My big screen Mitsubishi TV serves up plenty of this. When something halfway decent is on, anyways. Can be tough to escape the Iraq war, Israeli War, Afghan War, Global Warming, You're at risk, Eating this will kill you, Breathing this will kill you, Bradjalinas having a baby bs every single day.

[M_TYPE_X]

Mitsubishi's cars aren't terribly sporty. They remind me of Toyotas, really.

[SukairainKupe]

You mean to tell me their shameless plug in "2 Fast 2 Furious" didn't help boosting sales!?

HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE!? LOL

[palmerwmd]

That's rather difficult when the other cars in your lineup are not "sporty" , "fun" , "practical" or "entertaining".

I was referring to a situation of retrenchment where the Evo might be the only car in the line up.

F:auto:

[SimpleS14]

I was referring to a situation of retrenchment where the Evo might be the only car in the line up.

F:auto:

hmm...as much as i like the Evo....I can't see that happening unless they drastically cut thier dealer networks. Even then they might pull out if they can't generate enough revenue for fixed costs.

[camber]

I don't think the EVO is that great of a money making car for Mitsu in America. They have even had to discount the EVO too.

Mitsu needs to stop trying to be a full line automaker. Scrap your current cars and focus on the small economical vehicles.

[cardriver]

evo is a good car i believe. also id like to say mitsu doesnt make the evo. some other company that knows how to make cars do....:p :D

[M_TYPE_X]

Evos are overrated. Big whoop, Lancers with sport suspension, tires, and engine.

Mitsubishi isn't really a full-line automaker. The Montero is going away, the Raider is merely a rebadged Dodge truck, and the Diamante is long gone.

[Deathmage]

I thought maybe the new eclipse would do well, as well as the evoIX.. even so, guess it's not enough..

[Riffster]

One car isn't a basis to save a line - even though the EVO is a fine car MTX - it can more than hold its' own against a Subie STi (which is very fast itself.) But the rest of the line is more or less undistinguished. The Eclipse is still front wheel drive and has more of a 'bubble' look than a sporty look (IMO.)

I agree with the premise of going back to making reliable and economical cars. With the price of gas the way it is, a cheap car with high mileage will sell provided it has at least decent reliability.

The problem with that is development costs - they'll have to partner with someone to come up with the production systems and lines and/or really, really have some serious brainstorms. Possibly they can adapt current lines to produce a Rio/Accent/Aveo type of car, or they might have to farm it out - but that also takes cash and may result in lower profit margin.

They're basically between a rock and a hard place - they've had cash thrown into them for years now - and that gravy train may have ended.

- Riff

[helldorado]

What would be nice to see is to bring over some of their RHD vehicles and make them US compliant. A car like the Colt Cabriolet would be a good start since it would be the only hard top vert for sub 20k.

http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/images/newcolt/gallery/gallery_img/gal_25.jpg

http://www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk/images/newcolt/gallery/gallery_img/gal_26.jpg

[Madmaster]

One car isn't a basis to save a line -

Chrysler's 300 came pretty close to doing that I thought. But the 300 is aimed at a much larger group of drivers than the Evo.

[camber]

What would be nice to see is to bring over some of their RHD vehicles and make them US compliant. A car like the Colt Cabriolet would be a good start since it would be the only hard top vert for sub 20k.


Mitsu is known in Japan for making some great small cars. They need to leverage that small car know how and turn it loose on the North American market. Forget about the subpar SUVs, sedans and pickup truck!

Get back to basics.