Mitsubishi was never a big player in the Japan auto industry. During the 80s when they were doing OK, they were like ranked 13th among the car makers in Japan.

At that time they were making money because they were into niche market vehicles with an emphasis on performance. Not so big market but with better profits. At that time, they had the Lancer EX with its 2000 Turbo model. (Filipinos call this the box type Lancer) They had the PAJERO which was a perfect for Japan size SUV.

When they started to go mainstream and fight it out with Toyota etc... Thats when they got into trouble

 

Regardless, even if the company is saved, they still will continue to loose money. Their rally team has or is going to be pulling out of the rest of the WRC season. They could not even start the New Zealand 2004 Event.

Who remembers the days when there were Plymouth/Chyrsler/Dodge Colts out on the street? Those were the days when Mitsubishi was trying to get into the US market. I remember my dad owning one of those.

 

BTW, another fun Mitsubishi fact: they've never been available in Canada
All the "cool" ricers there drive re-badged Eagle Talons as their "Eclipses", and the one genuine Mitsubishi I saw was a GTO (or as it's called here the 3000GT) owned by some dude smoking at the gas station :banana: