CHARGED mag - Why Mitsu won't let us have nice things

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benswing

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 5, 2013
Messages
47
Location
Montclair, NJ
Interesting article that gives perspective on the global sales of Mitsubishi vehicles and why they do not seem to be focusing on the US market.

http://chargedevs.com/newswire/mitsubishi-delays-us-launch-of-outlander-phev/
 
I thought they were not focusing on Europe.

May be they are perfectly out of focus. Kai Zen, they adore perfection.

My dealer told me he was one 4 to order the Outlander. Dont know when, but I'll be one of the first to try it.

Cheers
Peter and Karin
 
Yeah, I read this article from a link elsewhere. I don't believe it. Mitsubishi saying i-MiEV sales in the U.S. were weak is like the guy who killed his parents throwing himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan. Seriously? As far as I can tell, Mitsubishi did approximately NOTHING to sell the car, and my pre-order buying experience seemed designed to annoy and discourage.

What I do believe is that LEJ battery production fell far short of expectations and encountered unexpected quality problems, and after years of preparation Mitsu found itself going to market without enough batteries to meet anything beyond the most minimal demand. If Masuko's latest comments are to be believed, they've got that behind them now for the most part - though that still doesn't explain the maddening delay of the Outlander PHEV's U.S. launch. If they can hit or beat a $40k price point (i.e., the price of an Accord PHEV or Highlander Hybrid, not unrealistic given JDM pricing), it could be a big hit here, having effectively no competition.
 
Definitely agree with Vike on that article. The Outlander PHEV has been selling out everywhere its sold, they can't keep them in stock. That is the vehicle people are asking for - face it, people love to drive SUVs. Mitsubishi is making a huge mistake in not putting that vehicle to market right now in the US. I am definitely interested in purchasing the Outlander to replace my spouse's aging Versa. It would give us long range capability and the room we need for our family while having an EV for most of the trips. I hope Mitsubishi stays around long enough to deliver a few of them.
 
I loved Vikes comment " . . . and the opening it creates for slower-witted but better funded rivals to steal their thunder" which immediately brought to mind GM's attempt to steal Mazda's thunder with their version of the rotary engine. Google GMRCE for the details on how that worked out. Better funded but slower witted indeed :lol:

Don
 
Don said:
I loved Vikes comment " . . . and the opening it creates for slower-witted but better funded rivals to steal their thunder" which immediately brought to mind GM's attempt to steal Mazda's thunder with their version of the rotary engine. Google GMRCE for the details on how that worked out. Better funded but slower witted indeed :lol:
What GM missed out on was a rotary 'Vette (I believe it was supposed to be a 4-rotor powerplant compared to the 2-rotor unit slated for the uber-Vega), but in a cruel twist of fate, the biggest loser on the GMRCE project was really AMC. Never exactly awash with R&D dollars, they blew an unaffordably large share of them on a vehicle designed around the high-output, compact rotary that GM had agreed to sell them. When the engine was canceled, AMC was faced with a tough choice - write off the project or try to salvage it. With AMC's typical "can't afford but can do" spirit, their engineers hacked up the firewall, creating a huge bulge into the passenger cabin in order to wedge an i6 under the low hoodline that topped the tiny Wankel-sized engine compartment.

And yeah, that was the Pacer. The exterior was entirely AMC's fault, but the bizarre front cabin space with its screwed-up footwells - you can thank GM's fickleness for that. Problem is, the i6 still didn't have the output of the rotary, so the wide, greenhouse-heavy Pacer could barely lumber along. Eventually, AMC bit the bullet and effectively destroyed the lines of the car's front end (such as they were) by bulging up the hood to accommodate the small-block V8 needed to drive the little monster. The cumulative effect of all the band-aids and baling wire created a horror unmatched in the annals of American automotive styling - at least up to that point. Apparently offended that AMC had managed to be all-time #1 in anything, GM would later greedily seize the "ugliest ever American thing on wheels" title for itself with the awe-inspiring Pontiac Aztek (the mere memory of which was as good a reason for killing off Pontiac as anything else I can think of).
 
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