Mitsubishi Reworked For Canadian Market
You’ll have to excuse Mitsubishi for their excitement. It’s not every week they get to introduce a sexy topless model to an eagerly expectant crowd. OK, the glamour of the reveal was offset by the return of a sensible compact wagon, exclusive to the Canadian market, but all in all it made things a whole lot more enticing. Before I start talking about Mitsubishi’s new models (well, one new; the other on its second go-around), I have to share some of Mitsubishi’s excitement about their reinvigorated Canadian operations.
Well into in their second attempt to crack the Canadian new-car market (they made an ill-fortuned campaign in the late ’80s), Mitsubishi is finally realizing that Canada isn’t just a footnote to the American market. Starting this year, Mitsubishi Canada has its own independent leadership, led by President and CEO Paul Cummings (who brought a few key personnel over from Volvo when he defected), to better manage Mitsubishi’s business in our unique market. One of the key factors in attracting talented people from a competitor was granting Mitsubishi Canada control over its own destiny, by opening the channels for them to report directly to Japan (instead of through the U.S. team as previous president Randy Sears had to) and allowing them to make decisions specific for our market.
This was a major coup for the Canadian team and the first thing they did with their new power was bring back the Lancer Sportback. Okay, it may not be an Eclipse Spyder, but it’s symbolic of the fact that Canadians like different cars (smaller cars, and more practical cars, hence a compact wagon), and their dealers can move enough of them to justify getting a small allotment from Japan when there is little interest Stateside.
You have to think, if this management group was in place a couple of years ago, would we now have the subcompact Colt? Mitsubishi wouldn’t be worrying about rebuilding, but how to get enough of them over to meet demand.
As nice as the idea of a convertible sports car driving showroom traffic, nothing sells like a really good sub-$20K car in Canada, especially if it’s fun to drive–that is, after all, how the Honda Civic built its reputation and turned into a Canadian (and worldwide) franchise. The Colt’s reputation in Europe is that of a fun, practical city car, and its biggest drawback is that it is somewhat cost-prohibitive to ship cars over from Europe (where the Colt is assembled alongside the smart forfour in Holland) and still hit an attractive price point.
But that decision is in the past, and with the surge in small car sales and a flood of new models, it looks like a lock for the next version of Mitsu’s subcompact to come to North America. Even if it doesn’t make the trip for the States, Mitsubishi Canada planners won’t let this generation pass them by–they know they would have looked brilliant if they had brought this car in with their reintroduction to the Canadian market over two years ago.
With the Colt destined for an appearance in 2009, what is there to get excited about in Mitsubishi’s stable for the next few years? For now, it starts with the Lancer, and works its way up to the Eclipse Spyder, the brand’s new halo car, which, at a starting price of $32K, is pretty cheap for a halo car. Of course, there’s nothing cheap about its lust-inducing styling and it continues to deliver impeccable top-down cruising, so I have no problem with them slapping the halo crown on it. Of course, the halo model is the Spyder GT-P with Mitsubishi’s 3.8L MIVEC V6, good for 260 hp and 258 lb-ft of torque and a deep rumble from its divine exhaust note.
The next vehicle of significance in the Mitsu lineup is the 2007 Outlander, due in time for the heart of winter sales blitz - it goes on sale in Canada in February ‘07. Its styling, if you ask me, is a step backwards, becoming much more mainstream and harder to distinguish from the crowd, although I can’t deny a certain aesthetic philosophy with the Eclipse, both of which have lost body cladding and detailing–which in the case of the current Outlander was not nearly so out of place as with the previous Eclipse–in favour of smooth, tasteful simplicity.
Though it may not reach the level of sales volume that the RAV4 will bring to Toyota or the Santa Fe to Hyundai, for that matter, with its more mainstream ‘SUVish’ looks (its proportions previously were terrifically crossover–taller and more chunky than a wagon, slimmer and less bulky than a real ute) it has grown in a similar manner, in size, spaciousness, and power. In fact, for the first time ever the Outlander will be offered only with a V6 engine. Nonetheless, it is a lightweight all-wheel driver with family hauling targeted as its primary objective. Questions of its reliability stemming from Mitsubishi’s relatively unknown reputation might hurt it in some shopper’s eyes, but Mitsubishi’s 10-year/160,000 km powertrain warranty should instill confidence in serious tire-kickers and convince doubters that whether it’s reliable or not, Mitsubishi will foot the bill.
One more problem that the Outlander might generate is that it is creeping into Endeavor territory, which still only offers seating for 5. The Endeavor should need no introduction to regular readers as they are sure to have seen months of effusive, glowing praise from our West Coast office in regards to its spaciousness, style, performance and comfort. Sounds like a pretty complete package, eh? I still hope they bring out a limited edition Ralliart-tuned Endeavor, as seen at the 2004 SEMA show, along with the Galant Ralliart. That shade of red alone makes it worthwhile in my opinion, not to mention that a handful of other companies have blazed the trail with performance versions of their midsize utes. Look no further than Chevy’s TrailBlazer SS, Range Rover Sport Supercharged, Porsche Cayenne, and the granddaddy of surprising power-to dollar ratio, Jeep’s Grand Cherokee SRT8.
Then again, those companies all seem to know their audience, while Mitsubishi is still looking for the right balance of youthful image and mature pocketbooks to sustain long-term growth in this country, and in North America in general. Of course, that is the holy grail of most carmakers’ marketing departments, finding the right mix of styling, features, pricing and advertising to make it seem like every kid just getting their license or graduating university into their first full-time job wants it, while every empty-nester, father of 3, or successful single woman will actually lay down cash for it, be it for herself or for her son or daughter who just graduated from university.
Sadly, Mitsubishi seems too focused on the latter than any of the former. Mitsubishi’s image is largely built on the Evo and the Eclipse, and while I can’t claim to have seen every Mitsubishi commercial televised in the past couple of years, I can’t recall a single spot for the Galant sedan (Justin and Trevor claim to have seen the Galant commercial with everyone waving to the kid to the tune of the Flaming Lips’ “Do you Realize” as well as the See What Happens commercial several times, but I saw it maybe once and I watch a whole lot more TV, so I guess they’ve got better channel surfing skills–then again, Justin, at least, usually downloads and watches them on his computer). Mitsubishi has some really cool ads centred around the Eclipse and the Lancer Ralliart, but they haven’t put enough effort toward putting their exceptional midsize sedan, a bland looking but spacious and dynamic vehicle by most accounts, into the minds of consumers on a large scale. Mitsubishi needs to wake up and follow (by no means related to Mitsubishi’s old slogan) the breadth of the Eclipse and Spyder campaigns with a push to introduce their largely ignored Galant and Endeavor to the masses.
The last vehicle in Mitsubishi’s lineup is a full-size, fully capable SUV by the name of Montero. Chances are you’ve never seen one, but they’re out there and they are bred from Dakar Rally-winning vehicles known as Pajero Evolutions. Mitsubishi has been winning Dakar Rallies longer than I have been driving, and they need to put that stellar record to use, especially here in the land of snow and slush, where rally pedigree is good for convincing our winter-driven culture of a safety edge. Unfortunately, this is the final year for the Montero in Canada; if you’re interested, we suggest picking one up, before they vanish permanently.
Mitsubishi, on the other hand, doesn’t seem about to vanish from the Canadian scene at all, as some pundits have long pontificated. With new investment into the Canadian market, and much needed independence from its U.S. ally, it just might rise up as a serious threat to more mainstream brands. It’ll never spar in the same weight class as Toyota, at least with regards to sales volumes, but Canadians tend to root for the underdog, which could benefit the oldest Japanese automotive brand over the short- and long-term.