Mitsubishi News: Mitsubishi To Fight For Survival In The U.S.

[William Maley]

By William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

March 19, 2013

Mitsubishi is mounting a comeback in the U.S. The brand which only sold 57,790 vehicles last year, a 27% drop in sales compared to 2011, has big plans that involves more marketing and beginning to fill the holes in the lineup.

Masatoshi Hasegawa, executive vice president of corporate planning for Mitsubishi Motors North America told Automotive News the brand is looking at a new midsize sedan and a larger crossover.

"We are looking into a possibility for the [mid-sized sedan] segment, and we may look into maybe a bigger brother to the Outlander."

Hasegawa also noted that a replacement for the aging Lancer compact is sorely needed.

But any decision and/or appearance of these new models isn't likely to happen until 2015, the year that Mitsubishi hopes to be selling 100,000 vehicles per year,

A comeback is "not going to happen overnight," Hasegawa said. "We went into a descent, so it's going to take time to get back up again. But I think now we will definitely go into an upward trend."

So what will happen in the meantime? Well for starters, Mitsubishi will show the new Mirage subcompact at the New York Auto Show next week that will go on sale in the fall. Next will be the new 2014 Outlander crossover that will be coming out in June along with a massive marketing behind it.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[regfootball]

why don't they just regrille and rebadge Suzuki Kizashis for a couple years to fill the Galant hole?

they had the Galant which also had the Eclipse and Endeavor on the same platform, so they killed all three and have no midsize platform.........is the Lancer the largest car they have now?

[Robert Hall]

why don't they just regrille and rebadge Suzuki Kizashis for a couple years to fill the Galant hole?

they had the Galant which also had the Eclipse and Endeavor on the same platform, so they killed all three and have no midsize platform.........is the Lancer the largest car they have now?

The Lancer is the only car they have now in the US, besides the low-volume i-MiEV.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[regfootball]

I think they are bringing the Mirage. Pretty hard to make it in the US without a midsize sedan.......

[David]

They will try and try again but in the end they will be another footnote in the History Books.

[regfootball]

mar 1 2013,

Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA) today reported a year-over-year sales increase of 27.8 percent in February. The 6,051 units sold marked Mitsubishi's largest monthly sales total since March 2012.

Outlander Sport sales were 1,644 for the month, an increase of almost 20 percent compared to February 2012. Sales of the fuel-efficient CUV, now manufactured in Normal, Illinois, showed an increase versus the prior year for the sixth consecutive month.

MMNA will launch a national marketing campaign this month that focuses on MMNA's 30 year sales history in the U.S. and 25 years of Mitsubishi manufacturing in Normal, Illinois. A special limited-edition Outlander Sport will concurrently start arriving in dealerships.

Other Mitsubishi February sales highlights:

• Lancer sales were up 89 percent, and are up 97 percent year-to-date.
• Sales of the all-electric Mitsubishi i-MiEV continued to grow with 337 units.
• Sales of the Outlander were up 92 percent and are up 51 percent for the year.

Edited March 20, 2013 by regfootball

[David]

Still think they should merge with Mazda and Subaru and have a nice complete company of auto's to sell.

[Robert Hall]

Still think they should merge with Mazda and Subaru and have a nice complete company of auto's to sell.

Subaru is already in Toyota's family...

[Guest cenlaman]

Mitsubishi better get their act together quick and start being competitive here in the US if they want to sell some cars, or they're headed down the same road as Isuzu, Suzuki, Saab, etc. I'm not sure how long they think they can survive with a crappy dealer network that is constantly shrinking and such a limited offering of vehicles. Jump off that EV dream ship and just let that idea sink and build cars that the US market wants. I own a 2011 Lancer Sportback, but I'm starting to wonder if Mitsu will be around long enough to honor the 10/100,000 warranty (or even the 5/60,000 for that matter) Some pretty reliable sources are predicting Mitsu and Volvo will pull out of the US very soon.....news like this is never good for potential customers. Come on Mitsu, wake up already before it's too late! You still have some people out there that like you, but you're really making it hard to remain loyal. Or is it too late already?????