Mitsubishi News: Mitsubishi Tells Its Dealers New Products Are On The Way

[William Maley]

Mitsubishi told its dealers yesterday at the NADA Convention about a plan to reintegrate the brand's tired lineup.

The lynchpin to this plan is a new midsize sedan that will come out of a new partnership between Mitsubishi and Nissan/Renault. Don Swearingen, Mitsubishi Motors North America executive vice president tells Automotive News that the two are still in negotiations about the new sedan.

"We abandoned a huge market and we have to find a way to fill those customer's needs. Many of those customers are coming back to market, and we tried to move them into our other offerings, but if they're looking for that D segment sedan, we just don't have it," said Swearingen.

Other products/updates Mitsubishi is considering include a sedan version of the Mirage subcompact for the U.S., the addition of a 2.4L four-cylinder to the Outlander Sport, a new CVT for the 2015 model year, and the arrival of a refreshed Outlander in 2015.

The reaction of the dealers were very positive.

"For dealers, new products never come fast enough. But Mitsubishi did a good job of showing us that they are committed to delivering product and change and answers," said Stacey Gillman Wimbish, CEO of Gillman Cos. auto group in Houston, Texas.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[Drew Dowdell]

They need a new Galant and new Eclipse.... they have to be out of the park good.... or just close it up.

[G. David Felt]

Mitsu needs to move the auto's in a radical direction with technology, style, MPG and Quality to really get back into the market as a competitor. Otherwise just fold up and go home.

[loki]

Drew, always thought the Galant looked like a grand prix of it's time.. not in a bad way, but...yeah mid/fullsize entry would be good. question is is styling the only way they could stand out?

the Eclipse i didn't like the last gen... any ideas where you'd go with it?

Dfelt, i agree. but have to do that w/o pricing themselves out of cars that people would cross-shop with them.

[yougojay]

Dealers say, Yea!

[Drew Dowdell]

Drew, always thought the Galant looked like a grand prix of it's time.. not in a bad way, but...yeah mid/fullsize entry would be good. question is is styling the only way they could stand out?

the Eclipse i didn't like the last gen... any ideas where you'd go with it?

Dfelt, i agree. but have to do that w/o pricing themselves out of cars that people would cross-shop with them.

I'd go with a Scion TC type car with a 2.0 base and a 2.0turbo upgrade. AWD Optional and overall lightness a priority.

[regfootball]

outlander sport is a nice little rig. good to see the 2.4 and new CVT forthcoming. It might be my AWD go to work ride in the future if it does. If there were a chevy badge on the OS, it would sell 150k a year.

If they keep the Outlander and sport fresh over time, bring back the midsize, and then grow the Mirage, that will be pretty good.

Eclipse should not be brought back unless they make it say AWD option. I actually really dug the last Eclipse and it was nice being FWD for in the snow climes. When i sold and had people come in for Eclipses that was part of what they liked. They could buy their kid a sporty car but otherwise was like the FWD cars they were familiar with.

3000GT redux would be cool.

Biggest gap Mits has is the Lancer lineup needs an update.