Mitsubishi has been selling cars in the United States longer than some of its competing Japanese brands and certainly longer than Hyundai and Kia, a pair of Korean automakers. In the 1970s, Mitsubishi began selling its cars through the Chrysler Corporation, with rebadged Plymouth and Dodge models completing the Detroit automaker’s product lineup. Years later, Mitsubishi became independent, established its own dealer network, and peaked in demand for its attractive, compact models.
united states struggles
These days, Mitsubishi is struggling to find its footing in North America, with an underutilized assembly plant supplying some product, but demand far from what it should be. Other automakers have taken notice and have long since overlooked Mitsubishi, leaving it to the Japanese automaker to examine whether it should be a force in the US market.
Mitsubishi has no plans to follow Isuzu out of the US, but it is planning to make some big changes in an attempt to recapture past glory and liven up its model lineup. Expect the following changes to help the automaker increase its presence and relevance in the highly competitive US market:
plant changes – Mitsubishi’s only US assembly plant is in Normal, Ill., and it’s nowhere near building capacity. The Eclipse is built there, a special model that still has some appeal. However, the aged Galant and dated Endeavor are also built in Illinois. All three lines will soon be discontinued in Illinois and replaced by more popular models, the Outlander crossover and Lancer sedan, for 2013.
electric vehicle – The name i-MiEV doesn’t sound familiar, but it stands for “Mitsubishi In-Wheel Motor Electric Vehicle” that is planned to be launched globally. This model is already being sold to government fleets in Japan, beating the Nissan LEAF and Chevrolet Volt on the market. The US version of this compact car is expected to be larger and will go on sale sometime in 2011. It will be built in Japan and exported to the states.
New models – Mitsubishi isn’t saying anything about the new models it has planned, but the most important one will be the replacement for the current Galant midsize sedan. That model is woefully out of date, on sale in the US market starting in 2003 with minor updates since then. If Mitsubishi wants to get it right, a competitive midsize sedan is a must. Even little Suzuki solved that problem, selling its Kizashi sedan in the most competitive vehicle segment.
In 2010, Mitsubishi’s sales rose 3 percent in a market where car sales rose 11 percent to just over 55,000 units. That number is a far cry from the 354,111 vehicles it sold in 2002, underscoring that Mitsubishi has a lot of work to do to regain a viable presence in the competitive US market.
