Feb 16: Mitsubishi - what happened?

Mitsubishi - what in the world are you thinking? You used to be a company that, had some interesting cars (more about that later), but now you are really struggling on this side of the Pacific. Your North American line up now consists of a handful of forgettable suvs, a couple of small cars and a "who really cares" electric. Struggling in our market, you introduced the Mirage subcompact last year to the sound of one hand clapping. This was a small hatch that, was much better suited to the markets where it originated. It arrived here, not fully developed. So now we come to the 2016 Canadian International Auto Show and you have something to unveil in North America for the first time. Something to create some much needed excitement.

So, what do we get?

Hard to believe, but we get the North America debut of the Mirage sedan. Why hard to believe? Well, for starters, the Mirage wasn't much of a car, but more importantly, this attention grabber(?) lands in a market segment that, seems to be disappearing. The similarly sized Ford Fiesta is not a strong seller and Mazda has dropped their Mazda2. What has happened to this company?

Not so long ago, Mitsubishi was lauded for their innovation. The Dodge Stealth, itself a sought after car, sprung from the Mitsu 3000 GT, which was a terrific sports coupe.

 

Beautiful and technically ahead of its time by equipping this type of vehicle with all wheel drive. Try to find a bargain priced Stealth or 3000 GT these days. Not possible. But Mitsu had other neat sports models prior to this one. Remember the Conquest? The Eclipse?

There were also some interesting sedans, like the Diamante luxury model.......

 

Or the lauded Gallant VR below, which was also the basis for a similarly high tech model from Dodge, the 2000. My brother had one and he thought it was a great car, until his son ran it in to a bridge and totaled it, but thankfully not himself.

And now we get the Mirage hatchback and sedan? Yikes. What the heck transpired over those years to reduce this company to trucks, suvs and forgettable sedans? I personally don't recommend them to any of my clients, since there are much better choices with better resale and a 100% better chance that, the company will still be selling cars in Canada in five years.

This brings to mind an old Porsche ad that, mentions Mitsubishi, since they were a player back in the day.

Think Porsche would use Mitsu in a similar ad these days? Fat chance!

Until next time.........