Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Mitsubishi should have left the US Market years ago. The only people who buy them have terrible credit and wind up getting their cars repossessed because they can't make their payments. If you need service there are very few dealerships left. Resale value is horrible. Mitsubishi has to focus on other areas outside the US.
I almost bought one back in 2008--so glad I didn't. And I am not saying they are terrible cars.
Back in 90's the Eclipse was very popular, but that was pretty much their only winner. Their engines sucked, it's very common to see them burning oil with less than 150k miles.
Not like Mitsubishi's sales could get much worse. Besides, there are four bread-and-butter segments in the USA, compact and midsize car, compact SUV and midsize SUV/people-mover. Mistubishi's Lancer is incredibly out-of-date, the Galant's last year was 2012, and their answer to both SUVs is to take the Outlander and cram a third row into it. That's not going to work given the competition.
Mitsubishi should have left the US Market years ago. The only people who buy them have terrible credit and wind up getting their cars repossessed because they can't make their payments. If you need service there are very few dealerships left. Resale value is horrible. Mitsubishi has to focus on other areas outside the US.
You are correct.
Mitsubishi was so desperate to sell cars several years ago that they allowed people in The US to finance the purchase of their cars, even though those people had terrible credit scores. In other words, if nobody else would allow you to finance a car, you could go to a Mitsu dealer and finance a car through Mitsubishi Credit. The result was that Mitsubishis became, "ghetto cars", for a few years--until almost all of them were repossessed when those bad credit risks stopped making payments.
As to focusing on other areas of the world, even Japan is no longer a prime sales territory for Mitsubishi as a result of a major scandal several years ago. Because they were in such desperate financial condition, their corporate policy was to deny most warranty claims, despite knowing that most of those claims were legitimate problems resulting from poor-quality transmissions and engines that had failed during the warranty period. When the news media finally leaked information to the Japanese public indicating that Mitsubishi had, "acted dishonorably", the brand became as popular as cancer in its own home country, and their already-poor sales figures became even worse.
So...maybe there are countries where Mitsubishi can rebuild their sales, but it appears to me that US and Japanese markets are not likely to be successful for them.
Last edited by Retriever; 06-02-2013 at 04:32 PM..
Mitsu has been on a downward trend since the late 90's and the recession in 2000/2001 hurt them even more. Their main problem is that they refused to listen to their customers and what they wanted.
The Eclipse was a huge success... when it had a turbocharged I4 as an option. The 4G63T is truly one of the better small engines ever designed, and they put it in a car that was AWD and 2 door. In 2000, they dropped it and went with a weak V6 that wasn't even as powerful as the V6 they had in the 3000GT, which was 10 years earlier. The styling was terrible as well. In 2006, they revamped the styling, but still didn't bring back a turbo engine, and the 3.8L only put out 263hp, which was pathetic considering the 350Z was putting out 300hp with an engine that was .3L smaller.
Instead, the made their performance car the Lancer Evo, a huge mistake, considering most sports car buyers weren't going to be shopping 4 door models. Getting rid of the 3000GT as their flagship car and not designing another to compete with the 350Z was also a mistake.
Now, it's probably too late for them to mount a long term turnaround in the US, they simply don't have any cars that compete well in the segments that they used to have a strong presence in.
If Mitsu is counting on the Mi-Ev (or whatever they currently call that little electric go-cart of theirs) to help turn their sales around in The US, they are sadly mistaken. I saw one a few months ago, and thought that it was one of the most bizarre-looking vehicles that I had ever seen. Then, Consumer Reports tested one, and found absolutely nothing good about it.
If I was in the market for an electric car (which I am not), I might consider a Nissan Leaf, but this strange-looking little Mitsubishi? Nope!
Mitsubishi is not likely to be able to stage a comeback in The US, IMHO.
It will be interesting to see if Mitsubishi can evolve and sell models in the US a few years from now given sales projection trends that don't appear to be reversing at all. Isuzu and Suzuki have both exited the US car market as well.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
