Mitsubishi News: Mitsubishi Begins To Spill Details About U.S. Strategy

[William Maley]

Mitsubishi is planning to announce a blueprint on how it plans to rebuild itself in September, but the company's Chief Operating Officer Trevor Mann dropped some breadcrumbs of what could be included.

Speaking with Automotive News, Mann explained that the United States, China and Southeast Asia would play key roles in Mitsubishi's recovery. For the U.S., Mann hinted that Mitsubishi could tap help from Nissan or Renault on a new sedan (our guess would be compact or midsize). There is also talk about a pickup using a platform from Nissan. 

"It's something that we should look at. As we go forward and start to have common platforms, an alliance pickup platform would be quite an appropriate thing for us to do," said Mann.

Mitsubishi may also consider building vehicles in the U.S., possibly piggybacking off a Nissan plant. Last year, Mitsubishi closed down their Normal, Illinois plant as it was unable to find a buyer for it.

But these ideas are for the future. In the near future, Mann said Mitsubishi will focus on their lineup of crossovers in an effort to take advantage of growing demand for these vehicles.

"The answer to your prayers is not just adding nameplates. You've got to make sure the nameplates you've got are working for you. And we've got scope for improvement."

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

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[G. David Felt]

Some how , this will do little for them to survive long term. I still think more name plates will die in the next 5-10 years.

[smk4565]

What this brand should be is an EV brand.  Nissan/Renault have loads of brands that are all basically in the same price point.  Mitsubishi Electric is a huge world wide division, why not build Electric cars, and cheap ones.  Like a city car, a small sedan, a small people mover box thing, and operate in the $20-35k space.  At least they would be different.  Taking a Sentra or Altima and turning into an Eclipse or Galant isn't going to do squat.

[oldshurst442]

 

Im afraid that boat though, has since sailed away!

I dont know when, why and where they went astray, but the path they chose at the tail end of the last century or at the beginning of this one is clearly a path of epic failure!

They had the world in their hands in the 1990s and could have had a lot more with the movie franchise the Fast and the Furious....

What could have been is a question Mitsubishi should be asking themselves!

I dont think they could revive themselves in this market...

 

Edited May 1, 2017 by oldshurst442

[ocnblu]

Folks with second tier credit scores need a company like Mitsu.  I wish them luck in their plan.  Nissan is a pretty powerful overseer.  Mitsu pickups sold fairly well back in the day, before the ill begotten Raider of course.  A compact sedan would still sell, I believe, but it would need some of that old magic.  How about an Eclipse Cross Evo?  That might be cool.

 

Turning Mitsu into an all-electric brand is a terrible idea.

[smk4565]

31 minutes ago, ocnblu said:

Folks with second tier credit scores need a company like Mitsu.  I wish them luck in their plan.  Nissan is a pretty powerful overseer.  Mitsu pickups sold fairly well back in the day, before the ill begotten Raider of course.  A compact sedan would still sell, I believe, but it would need some of that old magic.  How about an Eclipse Cross Evo?  That might be cool.

 

Turning Mitsu into an all-electric brand is a terrible idea.

Tesla is an all electric brand and worth more money than GM or Ford.  Not that Mitsubishi would rise to that level.  But they are uncompetitive with anything Toyota or Honda make now, and it would take billions and billions to compete there.  Might as well put their billion dollars into a couple EV's which are the future anyway.

[ocnblu]

6 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Tesla is an all electric brand and worth more money than GM or Ford.  Not that Mitsubishi would rise to that level.  But they are uncompetitive with anything Toyota or Honda make now, and it would take billions and billions to compete there.  Might as well put their billion dollars into a couple EV's which are the future anyway.

Nope sorry.  MB-Tex fume syndrome is not a valid excuse for this harebrained idea.

[regfootball]

Well, Frontier = Raider.  Altima = Galant.  Sentra = Lancer.  rebadge alert,

Eclipse cross i think will do okay.  The Outlander Sport does ok for itself.  The outlander is the one that needs to be remade the most.  Its actually a great value, highly useful vehicle right now but its deadly unattractive and spurs no desire from anyone and it can't decide which class it is in.  Mirage caters to the down and outs.

All that said and done, there is limited ability to penetrate the other Japanese brands and Hyundai / Kia are the competition for the perceived bargain seekers.  there is only so much more that Mitsubishi can gain unless they develop a breakthough / signature product which honestly by 2018, everything's already been done.

So Mits becomes the Japanese alternative to the Hyundai Kia low credit / big warranty set.  Do you trust Japan or Korea more?  And the rental car lots will be stocked quite well and parent Nissan doesn't have their brand take the hit.

Believe it or not there are some Japanese car fans out there that truly only want a Japanese nameplate (won't settle for Hyundai Kia) but are really cheap with their $$$$ or their credit is not what the big dogs want.

[smk4565]

1 hour ago, ocnblu said:

Nope sorry.  MB-Tex fume syndrome is not a valid excuse for this harebrained idea.

No MB-Tex in my car, Nappa leather upgrade in mine.

They already have the Meev-i whatever.  They could do a small-mid EV sedan, like a Lancer EV.  Offer a 2 crossovers, one like Bolt small and one Outlander size.  These would only need like 150 mile range, it would be basic EV transport for $25-35k before any rebates.

The current Mitsubishi isn't a viable car brand, I don't see how a radical change could be any worse than the extinction they are facing.  I think there are people that would like an EV too, but can't afford a Tesla.

[G. David Felt]

12 hours ago, ocnblu said:

Nope sorry.  MB-Tex fume syndrome is not a valid excuse for this harebrained idea.

We get it, you do not like Aluminum and you hate EVs. Yet the future is moving forward and Hybrids and EVs are the future.

What is wrong with turning 1 brand into a focus of EV products that eventually would migrate into the other brands like Nissan?

[A Horse With No Name]

21 minutes ago, dfelt said:

We get it, you do not like Aluminum and you hate EVs. Yet the future is moving forward and Hybrids and EVs are the future.

What is wrong with turning 1 brand into a focus of EV products that eventually would migrate into the other brands like Nissan?

Seems like a rational strategy to me...

[ocnblu]

What is wrong is... Mitsubishi is trying to actually survive here and actually make money in the U.S., not commit suicide, which is surely what would happen if they were to go... LOL... all electric... 

[smk4565]

23 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Tesla makes zero profit. Mitsu,,, actually I have no idea if they make a profit or not, but the billions it would take to develop EVs priced like EVs already here (or will be before mitsu gets off it's ass) would just accelerate mitsu's losses. And newsflash- "$35K" isn't "cheap".

$35k for a mid-size crossover, and that still undercuts the Bolt which is a compact car.  I think Mitsubishi could do a small electric sedan/crossover for $25k.  Mitsubishi's current products have pretty basic interiors, they aren't really well equipped cars.  If you kept the interiors plain jane basic, and put the money into a 150 mile range battery and a 200 hp electric motor they could undercut the Leaf and Bolt easily.

Putting more money into gas powered Mitsubishi's is a waste of money, the brand will close on their current path, might as well close it now if that is their plan to keep the Lancer and Outlander going as is, and to spend money turing a Rogue or Murano into an Eclipse crossover coupe that won't sell.

6 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

...and yet everyone for some strange reason sees Tesla as a good business model...strange...

More valuable than GM or Ford.  

Tesla I think has some potential weaknesses, namely making zero profit, but they are ahead of the game on where the industry is going.  If someone can leap frog them, that is the risk they have. 

[balthazar]

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

$35k for a mid-size crossover, and that still undercuts the Bolt which is a compact car.  I think Mitsubishi could do a small electric sedan/crossover for $25k. If you kept the interiors plain jane basic, and put the money into a 150 mile range battery and a 200 hp electric motor they could undercut the Leaf and Bolt easily.

Mitsu is not going to draw buyers of consequence with a $25K compact with a mere 150 mile range against a far nicer Bolt with 240 mile range, nevermind a profit.

[A Horse With No Name]

3 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Mitsu is not going to draw buyers of consequence with a $25K compact with a mere 150 mile range against a far nicer Bolt with 240 mile range, nevermind a profit.

Not sure they are capable of undercutting GM by that much, that seems the stuff of fantasy.

[balthazar]

Sure, some of them are. And if they're willing to spend $42K, or $50K or $55K, more power to 'em.
But how many of the 400K pre-orders will not? Without a doubt, some will balk and back out, those would have been 'deal-broken'. Time will tell... if Tesla does.

- - - - -

Mitsu should fold up operations. When they got caught thrice lying openly about injurious & fatal defects, I thought for sure they'd be forced to leave the U.S. market, but they're hanging around like a lingering fart.

[Drew Dowdell]

Back to Mitsubishi specifically - If they get a version of the Frontier also... that would make 3 versions of the same truck running around?  Frontier, X-Class, and I guess we'll call it Raider(?) for now.

If Nissan were smart.... they would bring back something that Mitsubishi was known for... offering AWD in many of their models.  They need an AWD Galant, an AWD Eclipse, an AWD Diamante, plus all of the crossovers currently required to compete in today's market.  They need to be Nissan's direct answer to Subaru, car for car. 

[A Horse With No Name]

3 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Back to Mitsubishi specifically - If they get a version of the Frontier also... that would make 3 versions of the same truck running around?  Frontier, X-Class, and I guess we'll call it Raider(?) for now.

If Nissan were smart.... they would bring back something that Mitsubishi was known for... offering AWD in many of their models.  They need an AWD Galant, an AWD Eclipse, an AWD Diamante, plus all of the crossovers currently required to compete in today's market.  They need to be Nissan's direct answer to Subaru, car for car. 

That is actually pretty good thinking.  But it assumes that Nissan could not add said things to current lineup.  A lot more brand equity in the Nissan name than the Mitsu name.

[Drew Dowdell]

2 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

That is actually pretty good thinking.  But it assumes that Nissan could not add said things to current lineup.  A lot more brand equity in the Nissan name than the Mitsu name.

I agree with you on the brand equity thing.... but Nissan did spend the money to buy Mitsu... so they should give Mitsu a purpose in life, which it doesn't have right now. 

[Drew Dowdell]

I moved the excellent Tesla discussion into it's own thread: Measuring Tesla's Success or Failure.  Some small bits of Mitsubishi discussion got swept into there because they were in the same post as a Tesla post.  I've tried to divide it up as cleanly as possible.  Feel free to repost in the appropriate thread any point you made that seems to have gone into the wrong bucket. 

[smk4565]

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

Mitsu is not going to draw buyers of consequence with a $25K compact with a mere 150 mile range against a far nicer Bolt with 240 mile range, nevermind a profit.

The Bolt is a $38,000 compact, if Mitsu undercut them by $13,000 it would sell.

[A Horse With No Name]

2 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

The Bolt is a $38,000 compact, if Mitsu undercut them by $13,000 it would sell.

Please see current sales numbers for current Mitsu EV  product priced in that range.

[smk4565]

2 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Back to Mitsubishi specifically - If they get a version of the Frontier also... that would make 3 versions of the same truck running around?  Frontier, X-Class, and I guess we'll call it Raider(?) for now.

If Nissan were smart.... they would bring back something that Mitsubishi was known for... offering AWD in many of their models.  They need an AWD Galant, an AWD Eclipse, an AWD Diamante, plus all of the crossovers currently required to compete in today's market.  They need to be Nissan's direct answer to Subaru, car for car. 

Nissan sedan sales are down, coupe sales nearly non-existent.  Putting 2 sedans and a coupe on sale as Mitsubishi's is sales suicide.  They won't sell a thing.  Nissan (and Toyota, Honda, and Chevy) should be offering all wheel drive on sedans, that is an easy $2,000 option to sell.

If not the EV path, then the only other viable path for Mitsubishi is to be a commercial truck brand.  They have commercial trucks already (in medium duty), they could move the Nissan NV vans to Mitsu, give them a pick up for fleet sales to Comcast, give them a fleet version of the Titan even.  

2 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Please see current sales numbers for current Mitsu EV  product priced in that range.

Too small of a car.  Needs to be a Lancer size and look but EV at $25k to work.  And I would do an Outlander crossover EV at $30k.

[A Horse With No Name]

2 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Too small of a car.  Needs to be a Lancer size and look but EV at $25k to work.  And I would do an Outlander crossover EV at $30k.

If GM, whcih is larger and mroe efficient that Mitsu by an order of magnitude....cannot sell athe Bolt in that price range...why would Mitsu be able to do so?

GM is still loosing money on every Bolt...would loosing more money per car help Mitsu?

[Drew Dowdell]

6 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Please see current sales numbers for current Mitsu EV  product priced in that range.

It has terrible terrible range and barely qualifies as a car.

[A Horse With No Name]

Just now, Drew Dowdell said:

It has terrible terrible range and barely qualifies as a car.

Which is why it is absurd that SMK is suggesting that they sell a fully equipped sedan that is up to the date in the market as a full EV at that price.

[Drew Dowdell]

1 minute ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Which is why it is absurd that SMK is suggesting that they sell a fully equipped sedan that is up to the date in the market as a full EV at that price.

Aside from the development costs... there's no reason they couldn't go down that route with something modern.  The i-MiEV is ancient technology in EV terms... it was launched in 2009 in Japan which means it was developed in the 2006 - 2008 timeframe. That actually makes it older than the Nissan Leaf.  Nissan has a new Leaf coming, there would be potential for some development cost sharing there, but I don't see Nissan getting the oddball looking car while Mitsu gets a conventional looking EV Sedan.  Nissan gets first dibs.

[A Horse With No Name]

2 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Aside from the development costs... there's no reason they couldn't go down that route with something modern.  The i-MiEV is ancient technology in EV terms... it was launched in 2009 in Japan which means it was developed in the 2006 - 2008 timeframe. That actually makes it older than the Nissan Leaf.  Nissan has a new Leaf coming, there would be potential for some development cost sharing there, but I don't see Nissan getting the oddball looking car while Mitsu gets a conventional looking EV Sedan.  Nissan gets first dibs.

...and exactly why it makes sense to market something with that kind of capital outlay as a Nissan and not a Mitsubishi.

[smk4565]

23 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

If GM, whcih is larger and mroe efficient that Mitsu by an order of magnitude....cannot sell athe Bolt in that price range...why would Mitsu be able to do so?

GM is still loosing money on every Bolt...would loosing more money per car help Mitsu?

Reanault-Nissan-Mitsu is larger than GM.  If they centralize EV production to Mitsu and make it the discount Tesla they could sell enough volume to make It work.  

I thought this brand should have closed years ago but if they are looking for a way to stay relevant then EV is about all they can do since that is the next wave.

[A Horse With No Name]

2 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Reanault-Nissan-Mitsu is larger than GM.  If they centralize EV production to Mitsu and make it the discount Tesla they could sell enough volume to make It work.  

I thought this brand should have closed years ago but if they are looking for a way to stay relevant then EV is about all they can do since that is the next wave.

I agree EV is the only real option they have...there is just a long hill to climb in the meantime.

[balthazar]

i-MiEV is a $11K compact that's been electrified and the price tag doubled to $23K.
If they took a Lancer and EV'ed it, the price would go from $18K to AT LEAST $35K.
There is no scenario where an EV Lancer would be $25K.

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

i-MiEV is a $11K compact that's been electrified and the price tag doubled to $23K.
If they took a Lancer and EV'ed it, the price would go from $18K to AT LEAST $35K.
There is no scenario where an EV Lancer would be $25K.

And even then the Lancer is extremely bland and dated.

[Drew Dowdell]

19 minutes ago, A Horse With No Name said:

And even then the Lancer is extremely bland and dated.

... and nearly dead. 

 

[A Horse With No Name]

6 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

... and nearly dead. 

 

Pretty much a mercy killing....!