What just happened to Mitsubishi?

[Vuflanovsky]

I think Mitsubishi is ambivalent about the N.A. market and it might be a chicken and egg thing that evolved when they became the fringe marque that they are today in the U.S. They've changed their focus on what their goal is in the North American market about three times now.

I don't have the Mitsu hate that some on here do only because I owned a '97 Mirage ( Lancer ) that reliability / mechanically wise was the best car that I've owned. It was pretty much flawless up until 160K miles when I sold it. There definitely was a quality difference between the Japanese-built cars and what rolled off the line in the Normal, IL plant back then...most Galants were built in Illinois and the Mirages were all from Japan as I remember. No idea how the new Mitsus compare.

 

[Silk]

Up until the mid to late '90's we assembled CKD cars in NZ, and quality was the same across all brands. Late '80's we started importing used cars from Japan, and the difference in quality was very obvious, the Japanese cars were a whole new level. This of course killed off our CKD industry and all cars here are imported fully built up, new and used. Our Mitsubishi's come from Thailand, and there are no manufacturing flaws at all.

They no longer own the assembly plant, which is quite large by NZ standards (tiny by US standards), and originally assembled Rootes and Chrysler. But they occupy a small corner for their parts department, and their own dismatling yard. They pick what they want, and even dismantle brand new vehicles that have never been on the road,or import from Japan to dismantle. These parts are only available to the Mitsi dealer network.

 

[Jetronic]

ASX, outlander, lancer and Pajeor are built in japan (for the euro market) and there are no issues.

L200 (triton?) and mirage/attrage are built in thailand. so far no issues either though the L200 is the most likely to have something wrong, followed by the pajero. Off-roiad use does result in damage, as does hauling. I doubt many people use the low gearing to haul something heavy onto the road.

Fuso Canter are built in spain, issues are mostly related to finishers, who put a cab on the chassis and crush wires or pipes.

Hyundai is a whole other class.. not uncommon to receive TSBs or recalls before even the first vehicle is delivered for the showroom.

 

[cptbarkey]

Mitsubishi is huge, they just happen to make vehicles as an afterthought. I guess they are on some small comeback but it will probably not be monumental until they expand their US lineup, and who cares about small-medium cars when gas is $1.39.

 

[Diego3336]

Here in Brazil they were always a niche player, but even considering this fact, I'm seeing less and less new Mitsus here year-by-year. They made quite a splash on earlier 1st and 2nd-gen Eclipse and the contemporary Pajero Full days and were doing ok until at least 5 years ago with the Pajero iO/Pinin, the Pajero Sport and then the Dakar (Challenger qst and 2nd gens) and the L200 Triton, but since 2010 most people doesn't seems to care about their lineup and even more people have no idea that they are actually making cars here in Brazil. If I'm not wrong, currently they are making Lancers, ASX, L200 and Pajero Dakar here, but the last thing I heard about this operation is that they are closing some shifts and the plant is scheduled to run on a 4 day per week basis until at least the end of this year, but to be honest I don't think they will last that long here.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted By: hpb
Yep, Mitsubishi do pretty well in Australia too, considering their fairly restricted vehicle range. It might surprise those in the US to know that here, Mitsubishi outsell Honda, Subaru, VW, etc. There are 4 Mitsubishi's in my 13 house cul-de-sac, all less than a year old! (All are diesels too...another thing that BITOGers love to hate!)

And having owned 3 new Mitsi's over the last decade, I rate their quality quite highly. 5 year warranty is nice too, not that I've ever had to make a claim.


BITOGers hate diesels? I know Americans in general haven't embraced diesels, historically (though that's been changing due to updated technology that has improved drivability, acceleration, emissions, and cut down on clatter). But I would think that a lot of guys & gals on this forum, being mostly enthusiasts, would be able to see the efficiency of diesels.

Take my truck, for example. 4.0L gas V6 Tacoma. 236 HP, 266 LB/FT, 18 MPG everywhere. Replace that with, say, a 2.8L turbodiesel I4 and it would make a bit less HP (maybe 190) but with >300 LB/FT and probably get 26-27 MPG, and tow rating certainly wouldn't go down from the 6500 LBS it's rated for. And diesel fuel prices are way down now here.

OEMs need to realize that the public will buy diesels. They just have to spend the ad dollars to educate people that diesels aren't what they were 25-30 years ago.

 

[hpb]

You're preaching to the choir! Diesels are everywhere in Australia. Most people here wouldn't consider anything other than a diesel in a vehicle like yours. Probably the big factor why there's not much interest in diesel in the US is that your "gas" is cheaper than water, so the extra efficiency takes a lot longer to pay for itself.

 

[Diego3336]

Originally Posted By: Jetronic
L200 (triton?) and mirage/attrage are built in thailand. so far no issues either though the L200 is the most likely to have something wrong, followed by the pajero. Off-roiad use does result in damage, as does hauling. I doubt many people use the low gearing to haul something heavy onto the road.


The 2nd-gen Pajeros (the 1st gen wasn't sold here in Brazil) are still a common sight in many off-roads events and most of them are equipped with the 2800 Turbo Diesel. I once heard from two owners in one of these events that the Pajero was the closest 'modern' thing to the Willys Jeep Station Wagon in terms of reliability and off-road capability, and the Jeep SW is still widely well regarded here, so it's a huge compliment.

 

[Silk]

Mitsubishi were licensed to build the Jeep...I guess that's where their 4X4 engineering comes from. I don't know what year it was, but we sold this though our yard a few years ago...4G64 powered.

 

[Silk]

No, not 4G64 powered, twin stickers on the screen means it is diesel powered, not a 4D56 or 4M40, but a pushrod engine...4DR5 I think.

 

[Diego3336]

Originally Posted By: Silk
Mitsubishi were licensed to build the Jeep...I guess that's where their 4X4 engineering comes from.


Yeah, I always thought the same thing, they had even made the Jeep SW too:

Since the 90s, Mitsubishi here in Brazil has a stronger 4x4 image than Jeep as a lot of people still use Pajero, Pajero iO, L200 and Pajero Sport/Challenger as a proper off-roaders whereas almost all Jeeps are used only in urban environment since the Grand Cherokee ZJ days, and there's the fact that Mitsubishi here still sponsor some exclusive and many general 4x4 events. In fact I think this is their main advertisement avenue as they doesn't even lend their cars to magazines and websites to run tests anymore since the early 2000s.

 

[Falcon_LS]

Originally Posted By: Diego3336
It is not dead yet, but it seems the current generation, itself a 10 years old project, is also the last one:
http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/mitsubishi-pajero-to-be-axed-20151028-gkkuee.html

I think Mitsubishi is going all-in on crossovers, it might be good for them but I don't know how long it will last without any halo cars. Both the Evo and the Pajeros are among the first thing people remember when they hear the word 'Mitsubishi', they should never stop making these cars, imo


With its reputation and heritage, as well as it's significance to the Mitsubishi marque, I just can't see the Pajero going away. Ever since the Pajero switched unibody construction in 2001 (1999 for JDM IIRC), there's been more of a shift towards making it their flagship SUV. With the Land Cruiser and Patrol still utilizing body on frame construction, I still question why Mitsubishi decided to go with unibody construction, but again that's just me. I just can't see Mitsubishi killing off their Pajero anymore than Toyota killing its Land Cruiser.

 

[Silk]

It's been in production for over 16 years with very little in the way of changes...and by the sound of it there isn't a new one on the drawing board. They are just going into limited production with it, the new Pajero Sport will keep the name alive, and is based on the Triton with a full chassis.

 

[Robenstein]

They are not going to make the EVO anymore sadly. There goes their Subaru fighter.