New Mitsubishi Mirage....

[Raza]

Mitsubishi is in a downward spiral.  I feel like more than one person out there is hesitant to buy one because they think they're going to close up shop in the US soon. 

I mean, I know I feel that way, but I've been saying that for 10 years.  I thought they'd be done by 2010.  I'd have bet money on it. 

Actually, I might have bet money on it.  Oh well, those were C&D days, they don't count!

[TurboDan]

This isn't any better or worse than any of its competitors. Actually, the interior is marginally better in my opinion. All in all, I don't think it's that bad.

[2o6]

This isn't any better or worse than any of its competitors. Actually, the interior is marginally better in my opinion. All in all, I don't think it's that bad.

Are you serious? The car is thoroughly uninspiring. It falls short to rivals like the Fiesta and Rio.

[2o6]

This car has to be cheap, otherwise its going to fail.

[TurboDan]

Are you serious? The car is thoroughly uninspiring. It falls short to rivals like the Fiesta and Rio.

No cars in this segment are "inspiring." People buy them because they're cheap and provide simple transportation. I don't see how one is necessarily better than the other, though I must say that this little Mitsu appears on the surface to have a more solidly put together interior.

The exteriors are basically all the same in this class of cars. Debadge them and hardly anyone could tell the difference.

[2o6]

No cars in this segment are "inspiring." People buy them because they're cheap and provide simple transportation. I don't see how one is necessarily better than the other, though I must say that this little Mitsu appears on the surface to have a more solidly put together interior.

The exteriors are basically all the same in this class of cars. Debadge them and hardly anyone could tell the difference.

Have you paid attention to any modern subcompact lately? The attitude in your post really doesnt exist anymore; most choices are rife with style and quality previously unseen (in the US) in this class of car. The Mirage is at the bottom of the pack in regards to
pretty much everything, and it should be its a car meant dor developing markets.

[ifcar]

If they had brought this to the U.S. before everyone else introduced subcompacts, they'd have had something.

[nickdrinkwater]

Much like the current Nissan Micra, really.

Hired one of these the other day, not by choice.  Complete shitbox.  Couldn't believe this was a brand new car.  The old one was better.

[Colin]

No cars in this segment are "inspiring." People buy them because they're cheap and provide simple transportation. I don't see how one is necessarily better than the other, though I must say that this little Mitsu appears on the surface to have a more solidly put together interior.

The exteriors are basically all the same in this class of cars. Debadge them and hardly anyone could tell the difference.

If you looked at the latest Nissan Micra and then compared it to almost anything else, you would realise that you can tell the difference......... and sales of the Nissan have tanked to negligible in Western Europe, as the car looks and feels cheap and nasty. This Colt/Mirage would appear to be tarred with the same brush. It is aimed at emerging markets in Asia, where value and cost are more important that quality.

[2o6]

This car is going to blow.

[cawimmer430]

This car is going to blow.

Of course.

Not RWD, no V8 and no 6-speed M/T. IT DOES BLOW! 

[giant_mtb]

Are you serious? The car is thoroughly uninspiring. It falls short to rivals like the Fiesta and Rio.

What does that even mean.

[Madman]

The Mitsubishi deathwatch starts now........

[Eye of the Tiger]

What ever happened to the not quite as dorky-looking Colt?

[2o6]

What ever happened to the not quite as dorky-looking Colt?

That car was introduced in 2002. Although it's still a good car, it's too old.

[cawimmer430]

What ever happened to the not quite as dorky-looking Colt?

Can't remember the last time I saw one of these. But then again they're so dull-looking in person they don't show up on my radar.

But a Camry or Accord on the other hand does!

[2o6]

Headed to the US. Power will come likely from the 1.2L making about 80HP. However, it's really aerodynamic and light; 44MPG freeway should be had.




A shame it looks so bland.....I wonder if this will be replacing the Colt, too. The Colt is old as hell now.


http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/28/2014-mitsubishi-mirage-arrives-in-us-this-fall/




It doesn't look as bad with upsized wheels, but its just not a very attractive design.

[TurboDan]

They should either make another Eclipse to kinda-sorta compete with the BR-Z or just call it quits.

The Eclipse and Montero were the only vehicles anyone ever cared about, and huge ass SUVs aren't in style anymore.

[Colin]

This is the replacement for the Colt in Europe.

Its most obvious rival is the Nissan Micra, which it should beat as being not quite so obviously cheap and nasty........ but whether it can compete against the likes of Polo, Fiesta, super-enormous sized new Clio, 208 etc is far less clear. In Europe the trump card is that all the engines get under the magic 100 g/km of CO2 which means no road tax liability.

It is branded Mirage for the UK, but the cars at Geneva were called SpaceStar.

[Mustangfan2003]

Mitsubishi just doesn't seem to care anymore

[Madman]

Maybe if Mitsu were to take a page from the MINI/Fiat 500 playbook and offer this car with a plethora of performance and appearance accessories, they stand an outside chance of creating a buzz around this slightly dull (but otherwise inoffensive) econobox?  Nah, who an I kidding?  It will never happen.

I still have fond memories of my dad's old '82 Colt with the twin-shift (Eight speeds. yo!) transmission.  Let's just hope this new one doesn't rust and dissolve away as fast as that old one did!  I have to admit, there's something appealing about and honest back-to-basics car that isn't pretending to be something it isn't.  As long as it isn't TOO cheap 'n nasty, that is.

Besides, Chinese restaurant delivery drivers need to use something to bring me my sweet and sour chicken, right? 

[WookieOnRitalin]

DOA.

Mitsubishi banked on some great models in the 90s/early 00s. Fanboys loved the Eclipse. Average Joes loved the Montero and Outlander. And of course, there was the Evo.

Mitsubishi failed to do what most other companies did and focus on reliability and MPGs. The low MPG, expensive Outlander did not grab customers. The Lancer remodel took too long. The Eclipse remodel was a fail. And let's not even bring up the Galant and Endeavor. Plus, when you combine all the bad financing practices that Mitsu engaged in during that time frame and you have a recipe for disaster. They had momentum and gives you a great example of how bad financing, slow remodel cycling, uninspired design, poor reliability and bottom end fuel numbers will destroy a brand.

Subaru, Mazda, and the Koreans gobbled up all the bottom end market destroying Mitsubishi and Suzuki on top of both of those companies inept ability to keep up with the progress of the market.

[Madman]

Subaru, Mazda, and the Koreans gobbled up all the bottom end market destroying Mitsubishi and Suzuki on top of both of those companies inept ability to keep up with the progress of the market.

Yeah, Mitsubishi used to be king of the "No money? No credit? No job? No problem!" deadbeat finance deals back in the 1990s.  I'll bet the majority of Mirages sold during that time period wound up getting repossessed before they were a year old.  But then the Koreans came in and took over that end of the market and stole Mitsubishi's lunch money along with all their chronically unemployed customers.

You know your company is in trouble when even poor people don't want to own your product!

[MX793]

DOA.

Mitsubishi banked on some great models in the 90s/early 00s. Fanboys loved the Eclipse. Average Joes loved the Montero and Outlander. And of course, there was the Evo.

Mitsubishi failed to do what most other companies did and focus on reliability and MPGs. The low MPG, expensive Outlander did not grab customers. The Lancer remodel took too long. The Eclipse remodel was a fail. And let's not even bring up the Galant and Endeavor. Plus, when you combine all the bad financing practices that Mitsu engaged in during that time frame and you have a recipe for disaster. They had momentum and gives you a great example of how bad financing, slow remodel cycling, uninspired design, poor reliability and bottom end fuel numbers will destroy a brand.

Subaru, Mazda, and the Koreans gobbled up all the bottom end market destroying Mitsubishi and Suzuki on top of both of those companies inept ability to keep up with the progress of the market.

Subaru is hardly the bottom of the market.  Impreza is on the expensive end of the compact segment.  Legacy is likewise pricier than Accord or Camry and has been for a while.

Mitsu and Suzuki were largely undone by sub-par products.  Suzuki's days were numbered when most of their North American lineup became rebadged Daewoos.

[93JC]

I don't think I would attribute it to 'sub-par' products. There will always be an average product, 'par', and by definition somebody is going to make cars that are below average. I think Suzuki and Mitsubishi's problems are due to poor brand management and an incohesive strategy. Particularly Suzuki. Cars like the SX4 and Kizashi aren't bad by any means, but they're nothing alike. There's nothing that links the two of them as Suzukis. And there's nothing like them on the rest of the  market either. Kizashi is either a small 'mid-size' or a big 'compact'. SX4 is either a small 'compact' or a big 'sub-compact'. They're both available with all-wheel-drive but there's nothing about Suzuki as a brand that says "this is who you buy all-wheel-drive cars from". They're both expensive for their size, which in size and price conscious North America is a very bad position to be in.

Mitsubishi is in the same boat but to a lesser extent. This über-bland Mirage doesn't fit in with the Lancer and everything Mitsubishi makes should relate to the Lancer somehow, since the Lancer is their most recognizable and arguably best product.



All that said I don't think Mitsubishi is necessarily on their way out. Not immediately anyway. I bet Volvo will be gone from these shores before Mitsubishi.

[cawimmer430]

Besides, Chinese restaurant delivery drivers need to use something to bring me my sweet and sour chicken, right? 

For the love of god, why aren't those guys using AMC Pacers or Ford Pintos!? 

[MX793]

I don't think I would attribute it to 'sub-par' products. There will always be an average product, 'par', and by definition somebody is going to make cars that are below average. I think Suzuki and Mitsubishi's problems are due to poor brand management and an incohesive strategy. Particularly Suzuki. Cars like the SX4 and Kizashi aren't bad by any means, but they're nothing alike. There's nothing that links the two of them as Suzukis. And there's nothing like them on the rest of the  market either. Kizashi is either a small 'mid-size' or a big 'compact'. SX4 is either a small 'compact' or a big 'sub-compact'. They're both available with all-wheel-drive but there's nothing about Suzuki as a brand that says "this is who you buy all-wheel-drive cars from". They're both expensive for their size, which in size and price conscious North America is a very bad position to be in.

Mitsubishi is in the same boat but to a lesser extent. This über-bland Mirage doesn't fit in with the Lancer and everything Mitsubishi makes should relate to the Lancer somehow, since the Lancer is their most recognizable and arguably best product.



All that said I don't think Mitsubishi is necessarily on their way out. Not immediately anyway. I bet Volvo will be gone from these shores before Mitsubishi.

It's not the current lineup that's really hurting Suzuki.  It's the lineup from a generation ago.  Suzuki's 2005 lineup for the US:

Aerio - Compact sedan/wagon, designed and built by Suzuki.  A bit of an oddball car but the reviews were generally pretty positive.
Forenza - Compact sedan.  Rebadged Daewoo POS
Reno - Compact hatchback.  Rebadged Daewoo POS
Verona - A small midsizer.  Rebadged Daewoo, but actually not terrible
Vitara - Small SUV.  Actually made by Suzuki.  I recall this one getting decent reviews.  Not class leading, but not terrible
XL-7 - Midsize SUV made by Suzuki.  Again, a decent, though not class leading, vehicle.  At the end of its model cycle by '05

That lineup from 7 years ago certainly hasn't helped Suzuki any today.  For starters, there was a ton of overlap between the Aerio, Reno, and Forenza.  They were all priced about the same and in the same size class.  Secondly, with the Aerio being kind of an odd duck to look at (both inside and out), most people bought the inferior but more "normal" looking Forenza.

Another problem that has kept Suzuki down is their lack of a decent midsizer.  They never had one prior to the Verona in the mid '00s, and the Verona wasn't a good enough car to really steal any CamCord buyers and not exciting enough to woo Mazda6 customers.  They followed it up with the Kizashi, which is by all counts a very good car, but is too small to really appeal to the typical segment buyer.

[93JC]

You said earlier that the reason Suzuki was hurting was "POS Daewoos", whereas my point was that it was not that the cars were necessarily 'bad' that hurt them, it was that they didn't really 'fit' squarely into distinct market segments. And, as you say, the cars themselves didn't compliment each other. I think we both agree on that point.

Lack of a mid-sizer definitely hurt them in the US, being that that's the biggest part of the passenger car market. What also hurt them in Canada was a lack of a true compact, which is the biggest segment here. The Aerio despite being funky sold half-decently, but we didn't get the Suzuki Forenza and Reno (they were sold here as Chevys, which was probably even more stupid). By the time the SX4 came out it was probably too little, too late, but the real problem was that the SX4 was this oddball little car. Bigger than a Yaris, smaller than a Corolla, all-wheel-drive made them expensive. They could have had a Nissan Versa situation if they'd cheaped out on it: the Versa isn't really a 'sub-compact' (it was bigger than a Focus for chrissake) but it competed with them on price, and being that people in North America buy cars by "pound per dollar" it sells pretty well. (It's the top-selling Nissan in Canada, or at least it was.)


I think Suzuki was wasting their time in North America. Sub-compacts and kei cars are their forte, always were. Instead of following the same path as Honda did (start off with very small cars, move into building Civics, move up into building Accords, start building cars in North America) their entire strategy was muddled (start off with very small cars and SUVs, build co-owned plant in Canada to build sub-compact cars and SUVs (read: very low-margin product that requires VOLUME to make a substantial profit off of), plug along with sub-compact cars and SUVs, plod along without branching out, finally get around to adding some product by reselling other carmakers' cars none of which fit your own lineup, and then... ??). They'd lost the plot by the time they had better product to sell.

They're better off concentrating on their strengths, particularly in the developing world. If Suzuki can get a foothold in places like Africa and South America with products like they sell in India I think they'll be laughing.

[Madman]

It's not the current lineup that's really hurting Suzuki.  It's the lineup from a generation ago.  Suzuki's 2005 lineup for the US:

Aerio - Compact sedan/wagon, designed and built by Suzuki.  A bit of an oddball car but the reviews were generally pretty positive.
Forenza - Compact sedan.  Rebadged Daewoo POS
Reno - Compact hatchback.  Rebadged Daewoo POS
Verona - A small midsizer.  Rebadged Daewoo, but actually not terrible
Vitara - Small SUV.  Actually made by Suzuki.  I recall this one getting decent reviews.  Not class leading, but not terrible
XL-7 - Midsize SUV made by Suzuki.  Again, a decent, though not class leading, vehicle.  At the end of its model cycle by '05

That lineup from 7 years ago certainly hasn't helped Suzuki any today.  For starters, there was a ton of overlap between the Aerio, Reno, and Forenza.  They were all priced about the same and in the same size class.  Secondly, with the Aerio being kind of an odd duck to look at (both inside and out), most people bought the inferior but more "normal" looking Forenza.

Another problem that has kept Suzuki down is their lack of a decent midsizer.  They never had one prior to the Verona in the mid '00s, and the Verona wasn't a good enough car to really steal any CamCord buyers and not exciting enough to woo Mazda6 customers.  They followed it up with the Kizashi, which is by all counts a very good car, but is too small to really appeal to the typical segment buyer.

Pretty accurate assessment.  Suzuki's lack of a strong brand identity has always handicapped their efforts.

Ask the average Joe what they think when the hear "Suzuki" and you may get one of many different answers.  Maybe mini mud pluggers like the Samurai and Vitara?   Or cheap econoboxes like the Aerio and SX4?  Or perhaps bland rebranded Daewoos like the Reno and Forenza?  Or maybe they'll just think of motorcycles and ATVs.  This scattershot method of selling cars, bikes and whatnot created a confusing brand identity which did Suzuki no favours in North America.

[TurboDan]

Ask the average Joe what they think when the hear "Suzuki" and you may get one of many different answers.

Ask in these parts and the answer would be outboard engines.