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Celebrating Mitsubishi...mostly the Evo

Mon, 14 Jul 2014

Is Mitsubishi going to come back better than ever or has it overevved its corporate four-banger and sent a rod through its corporate head?

Depends how you look at it.

If you made your judgment solely by spending last Saturday at the Mitsubishi Owner's Day at company headquarters in Southern California, you'd think this carmaker was the greatest thing since overhead valves and forced induction. That's because the annual Mitsubishi Owner's Day (MOD as the free T-shirts called it) was a glorious fan-based love sploot to the Diamond Star logo from over 3000 (or so) fans and their customized Evos, Evos and more Evos - along with a handful of Starions, Eclipses, 3000GTs and one each iMiEV and L300 van. There was thumping club music, free In-N-Out burgers and more enthusiasm for this car, truck and SUV maker than many attendees probably had for their significant others.

But was it enough?

The U.S car market is made up of somewhere around 15 or 16 million light vehicle sales in a good year. While 3000 or so passionate Evo drivers is nice, you can't really make a business case based on just that. Mitsubishi sales in America peaked 14 years ago at 345,111. Toyota misplaces more Camrys in its technical center parking garage than that every week. That's something like two percent of the overall market for cars in the U.S. That's a sub niche of a sliver of a wisp of the market. An automotive afterthought. A wheeled hiccup. And that's what sales were at the company's peak in 2002. They nose-dove steadily after that, only bouncing back in the last year or so. Mitsubishi sales were up eight percent in 2013 and are up 30 percent in the first half of 2014. Still, sales of 66,227 last year represented less than half a percent of the overall U.S. market. Having 3000 people who love your car (and who love free T-shirts and hamburgers) enough to drive to corporate headquarters is nice, but Mitsubishi needs more. It could lose even those 3000 when it cancels the beloved Evo after the 2015 model year.

“There's no doubt we had some challenging years,” said MMNA executive vice president Don Swearingen, onhand for MOD. “I believe we're past those. Our dealers are starting to sell in greater volumes, dealer profitability is up, customer volume is up. All I can say to (those) who have concerns is you have to watch our products.”

The company's global automotive parent revealed its product plans last November. The most interesting aspect was that it plans to stop developing its own cars. An alliance with Renault will produce a mid-sized sedan to replace the long-gone Galant. If that works, a similar deal will produce a Lancer-sized replacement. A cooperation with Nissan could yield a kei-class car about the size of the diminutive iMiEV that would be available as both an electric car and a 660cc city car. Mitsubishi will spend its development budget on trucks and SUVs, with plug-in hybrids widely available. We in the U.S will see a PHEV Outlander as soon as someone can figure out how to make more batteries at the battery plant, probably next year. Rumors are that the Montero will return to U.S. showrooms in 2016 and the Delica van could come here after that.

So there is a plan in place to not only keep Mitsubishi going but to grow the company.


“Clearly we started (the product offensive) last year,” Swearingen said. “We had a growth in the market last year and again as we're seeing in the first half of this year we're up over 30 percent. We're maintaining low fleet volumes so we're keeping residuals and the value of the company and the product up. We're really interested in bringing down cost of ownership. As you see from this event, our customers, many of them are very dedicated to the brand.”

Indeed they are. Outside the corporate headquarters lobby the Evos were swarming. Lines for prime parking spaces had filled up at sunrise. By the time we got there the huge MMNA parking lot was full, the grass field south of that was full, the lot across the street at Van's Off the Wall was full and we were directed to park at Yamaha's U.S headquarters across Katella. A look at Google Earth suggests over 1000 cars, mostly Evos, filled the area around Mitsubishi corporate headquarters. When you talk about enthusiasm for Mitsubishi products, the majority of that is for the ten generations of Evo.

“I was one of the first people in the U.S. to buy an Evo,” said Dino Khoe, who co-founded SoCalEvo.net in 2003. “Back then there was a lack of high-performance turbo cars, all you had back then were Hondas. All of a sudden Mitsubishi introduced a turbocharged all-wheel-drive rally car.”

Response was strong, especially when owners realized there was plenty of room for tuning. The tuning industry responded. Businesses flourished. There wasn't a stock Evo on the lot. For over a decade, performance enthusiasts flocked to Mitsubishi. The news that their favorite car was going to be cancelled hit them all hard.

“That's tough,” said Khoe. “I think it's a huge loss for Mitsubishi. They're gonna have to come up with an alternative.”


There were other Mitsubishis represented as well. The 3000GT was there, in all its glory, though we missed any VR4s. Sixteen rear-drive Starions were on hand, most with modified engines. A good number of Eclipses – both coupes and Spyders - were there. And there was even one van. Joe Szeto bought his '88 Mitsubishi van in 2004, rebuilt the head and has loved it ever since.

“I want to keep it forever,” he said.

As we were talking to him, a Mitsubishi employee came over and said they were trying to bring back the van, called the Delica in other markets.

Bill Dainsayhas owned his current '88 Starion since 2000, but he owned four more before that. “I like the styling,” he said.

And then there was Jon Smith, eating his In-N-Out burger and sitting in his Mirage. It was, as far as we could tell, the only example of the sometimes-maligned entry level Mitsubishi.

“I got one of those 'Come-win-a-prize' things in the mail, so I came in,” Smith said of his introduction to Mitsubishi. “Six hours later they were able to get me in this car.”

He had tried to buy similarly priced cars at other dealers but had no success. Credit was tough. “Ford couldn't do it, Chevy couldn't do it, but Mitsubishi did.”

“It's a great alternative for people who come onto their lots looking for a used car,” Swearingen had said earlier.

Smith liked the very things car reviews complained most about.

“The steering makes you pay attention,” he said. “You're more engaged in the process of driving.”

He'd really like an Evo, we'd bet. There were certainly plenty around for him and everyone to see.

Mitsubishi Owner's Day is an annual event. Next year, if all goes according to Mitsubishi's optimistic corporate recovery plan, sales should be up, product should be rolling out and daisies will line the parking lots full of year-old-and-older Evos. And after that, a new Evo. Some day. Let's all hope.


By Mark Vaughn