I have been reading up a lot of reports saying that Mistubishi is dying, like it states in this Forbes article, "primed to meet their demise in North America after seeing dismally steep downward sales for the last five years." What do you guys think??
No, i wouldn't say they are dying, just becoming more and more boring. Mitsubishi's are still being sold in Australia, but I haven't seen a nice looking or interesting Mitsubishi since the Evo 9.
I like Mums 2012 lancer. it's just a boring square with nice comfort and features, it's got leather, seat warmers, reverse camera, bluetooth... CVT is weird, and it doesn't like to be pushed hard. but still drives okay. I wouldn't own one, but there is nothing fundamentally wrong with it. They are alot cheaper and better specc'd than Toyota Corollas at the same $$$
Mitsubishi as a company is doing more than well (They sell much more than cars). Their auto division, Mitsubishi Motors, however, is pretty much in the shitter. They used to offer products for every little corner and niche of the car community, with a wide range of sports cars, economy cars, SUVs etc. Now they just sell unreliable economy cars and pickup trucks, really, so their sales are dropping.
Mitsubishi has been reducing their car manufacturing during the 00's and same has been going in past 7 years as well. Back in the 90's, they used to have wide variety of cars, but I guess they failed to make as big impact to the audience than the other japanese cars. But it could be, that the main company is reducing the car division production a bit to gain more wealth from other stuff, so I think, that they could come back at some point. And what I've seen, Mitsubishi has not been that popular in the US or Europe, two very important market areas for any car company (at least when you compare them to Toyota, Honda, Nissan or Subaru).
Mitsubishi's are getting older and more bland... They don't really have a design theme like Mazda or BMW does. They are bound to die in the US like Suzuki did, but probably not anywhere else for now.
I heard they are not going to make them in the US anymore, is this true? --- Post updated --- They make appliances. Scary to think that they also make cars.. They produced planes that bombed Pearl Harbor if you didn't know.. --- Post updated --- They make appliances, kind of The Mistubishi Eclipse Crossover seems like a desperate attempt to save their company.
Not confirmed. But with all their scandals lately, they might retreat to a developing foreign market with more of a customer base, and greater brand image, like Suzuki. --- Post updated --- I think the Eclipse crossover looks okay, but with so much competition in the most competitive market, it might not do well. Besides, they already have the Outlander Sport. I personally believe using the Eclipse badge on a crossover was a Horrible idea. It is basically killing chances for an Eclipse resurrection, which would be one of their only chances for survival.
I don't think them having built planes that bombed Pearl Harbor deters people in the US from buying their cars... if that's what you're implying. But to me, I think it's just that they're lacking, I guess the ideas, and having the right people to design something that'd keep them in competition with the other manufacturers. Though, I guess what made the big blow was their "0-0-0" finance offer, Zero down payment, Zero interest, and supposedly $0 per month well, after 1 year it seemed. This attracted alot of buyers who wanted to save money, but then once that 12 months passed, alot of them suddenly couldn't afford the payments and alot were sold back, but then this was a huge issue for Mitsubishi because, they're left with large amount of used cars, got no money back from it, and the cars themselves are worth alot less than even manufacturing a new one, this was back in 2003. And what made things worse was the recall cover up scandal that happened not too long after that, that hurt sales even more in the coming years, However with the release of the Outlander, and the new and last Eclipse, along with the slightly bigger Endeavor crossover did help things, but even then those didn't last long, and with them closing the last US factory in Illinois, it's said that they're focusing more on the Asian market this time, and what we get in the US now is most likely the last of Mitsubishi. So all in all, heavily flawed finance problem, bad decision choices, some accounts of unreliability ultimately led to dropping sales. New models being released sort of helped it, but that heavy blow back in 2003-05 or so was beyond recovering. With Suzuki having exited the US car market completely, was kinda similar, limited offerings for the US market, along with accounts of unreliability, and pretty much them not having a secure "footing" in the US market like how Honda, Nissan, and Toyota has.
Slowest "sporty" car I ever drove was a 2000 eclipse someone brought to the shop I worked at for a head gasket replacement. The 4 speed auto was the best part of the car in my opinion. It drove just fine as a commuter car but that's it, civilian use only. The 2.4 sohc was an affront to anything that even attempts to turn fuel into work. What would I expect from the base model of a cheap jap car? Good point. My 4wd weapon of choice is easily the 3rd gen evo. What a car. They have such a diverse line of products, why bother dealing with being a car manufacturer? Between the heavy machinery and the televisions, they should be fine.
This means nothing. Peugeot has been making kitchen appliances, among other things, for many many years and they're a fantastic brand that makes quality cars.
That was Mitsubishi's problem. The base models were awful, while the really cool top-end models were few and far between. The 3000GT is a perfect example.
The Eclipse is coming back. Just not how you would expect. After the year 2000 is when they died in my eyes, they have just pumped out shitty car after shitty car. Nissan recently bought a controlling stake in Mitsubishi so now that Nissan is in control maybe they can actually make cars that aren't complete garbage. But this will mean many crossovers and suv's like how Nissan got out of their hole. I personally own a 2003 Eclipse and it is one of the worst cars I have ever driven, so i'm not surprised that Mitsubishi has fallen so far down this rabbit hole. I hope for successful return and that they could bring back some sort of performance car but I wont hold my breath. Their sales have been extremely bad; in 2015 they made 116k sales in North America and 118k in 2016; Nissan sold 124k in December 2015 and 134k in December 2016, Nissan sold more cars in 1 month than Mitsubishi sold in an entire year; Nissan made 1.4m sales in 2016 and these are only sales made in North America. Mitsubishi needs to also rethink their edgy design language, their Metagross front end is completely unappealing to me. They need to come up with design language that can work throughout their model range and that doesn't look out of place on their vehicles like this Outlander Sport.
I would say yes for their cars but not really because they still make Tv's, Air Conditioners, and other appliances.
