Revista Presei - Mitsubishi News -

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'If you don't want a car and want an ashtray, this is for you': Man posts refreshingly honest ad to sell his sister's beaten-up '1990-something Mitsubishi Mirage'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... paign=1490

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Mitsubishi sees more growth, zeros in on service and parts

http://www.autonews.com/article/2018040 ... 9EC93543E0



Mitsubishi Motors North America’s sales have been a roller coaster ride this century. Now things are again looking up for the Japanese brand, with five consecutive years of U.S. sales growth in the books and the sale of a 34 percent stake in parent Mitsubishi Motors Corp. to Nissan Motor Co., which promises financial stability for the three-diamond brand. With more than 2 million vehicles in operation on American roads, the company is preparing to improve its fixed operations in anticipation of continued growth.

Mark Chaffin, 49, vice president of fixed operations, service and product support for Mitsubishi Motors North America, spoke with Staff Reporter Richard Truett.

Q: Mitsubishi’s units in operation have increased for five consecutive years. How is this impacting fixed operations?

A: It’s a great place to be — finally. We are certainly on a path of continued growth. However, we really need to be proactive at preparing for potential capacity constraints in the future. That’s what we are taking a deep look at now with our dealer body.

I think you’ll see us enhance our [parts] distribution in the near future.

As sales fell from a peak of 345,111 in 2002 to 53,986 in 2009, did Mitsubishi reduce its parts warehousing capacity?

In 2009 we did close a Texas warehouse.

Can the alliance with Nissan help?

Nissan’s distribution footprint in the United States is significantly bigger than ours. But we are operating as competing brands and we have unique policies and procedures that make it somewhat difficult to share distribution. But we are still looking at all options under the alliance to find those synergies that will give us a positive impact for both our dealers and customers. We are looking at everything.

We are first trying small enhancements and improvements as we leverage and grow that new relationship. But I can say that alliance with Nissan-Renault will open up a lot of doors for Mitsubishi, from joint sourcing to sharing advanced technology tools. We will be bringing a lot of new programs to our dealers in 2018.

What were some lessons learned from Mitsubishi’s full-electric i-MiEV?

The first thing we tried to do to get out in front of that was to get really prepared on the tech side. We made sure our technicians were fully trained on working on high-voltage systems. One of the things that surprised us was there are a large number of customers who traveled a great distance to purchase an i-MiEV from a dealer. In some cases, those customers lived outside the range of a single charge. So, one of the lessons learned is that we had to be prepared in some cases to offer mobile service or provide alternative methods to support those customers who lived outside the range of the i-MiEV.

Is it Mitsubishi’s experience that there are fewer customer-pay dollars from EVs because they require less maintenance?

That is true.

Any thoughts on how dealers will recoup those lost dollars?

The landscape is changing and technology is changing the business model. There are a lot of open questions about what future revenue models will look like for fixed operations. I think a lot of it will revolve around advancing technologies, things that we don’t see as mainstream in the market yet. There will be a lot revolving around services and subscriptions and providing technology options to this new wave of customers.

What’s Mitsubishi’s view on express service?

We currently don’t have a manufacturer’s sponsored program, but we have many dealers who do it well on their own. But now that the business is growing, we are taking a deep dive into how we can support that as an organization and grow that piece of the business with our dealer organization.

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Renault And Nissan Could Merge Into One Giant (If Carlos Ghosn Gets His Way)

https://www.carscoops.com/2018/04/renau ... -gets-way/


In an industry full of acquisitions and alliances, the ties that bind Renault and Nissan are unique. But they could give way to a more comprehensive merger, if the latest reports prove accurate and talks between the two bear fruit.

According to Bloomberg, Carlos Ghosn is pushing for an outright merger between the French and Japanese automakers he heads. The two already share a close corporate alliance, but have stopped short until now of fully integrating.

The merger would turn the two separate companies into one of the largest automakers in the world. Renault and Nissan sold 10.6 million vehicles between them (and their various brands) last year. That’s more than the 10.4 million that Toyota sold, and just behind Volkswagen’s 10.7 million. Ghosn aims to increase the alliance’s sales to 14 million by 2022, now just four years away.

The Brazilian-born Lebanese-French executive serves as chairman of Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ. He also directly manages Renault and Mitsubishi as CEO of both. The Bloomberg report doesn’t speculate on how Mitsubishi and AvtoVAZ would factor into the new entity, however Nissan is currently Mitsubishi’s largest shareholder, and Renault owns a majority of AvtoVAZ parent Rostec. Both Nissan and Renault have other brands under their respective umbrellas as well, including Infiniti, Datsun, Alpine, Dacia, and Renault Samsung Motors.

Both Renault’s and Nissan’s shareholders would ostensibly receive shares in the merged entity should the move go forward as planned. But the biggest hurdle may be convincing the French government to water down its stake. The Republic owns 15 percent of Renault – slightly more than its 13.68-percent stake in the rival PSA group (which runs the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel, and Vauxhall brands) and is headed by Ghosn’s former top lieutenant Carlos Tavares.

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A Used 1990s Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX Is Only For The Nostalgic

https://www.carscoops.com/2018/04/used- ... nostalgic/



Mitsubishi built the first-gen Eclipse between 1990 and 1994, with the GSX spec being the only one that offered all-wheel drive. It was also one of two models equipped with turbocharged engines, this being a 200 HP unit.

Nowadays, you can extract more performance from just about any fast VW Golf, but back in the early 90s, this was a quick car. The Eclipse GSX was and is still very engaging to drive, something Doug DeMuro couldn’t emphasize enough while reviewing this pristine and completely stock model.

He thoroughly enjoyed the way the car moved, despite the relatively high driving position (compared to modern sports cars) and the not-so-great ride quality. Yet, while the steering felt light and the car didn’t corner with the precision of a jungle cat, the Eclipse GSX still feels sporty. It’s the type of car you can throw around corners with ease while feeling in complete control.

As for all its quirks and (this being a Doug video, countless “interesting”) features, there are enough of them to go around – from the timing belt bulge in the hood, to the massive rear wiper or the independently-lit, ultra-adjustable stereo system.

In the end, this is still a car you’d only buy if, for whatever reason, you feel nostalgic. It’s not the sportiest, not the most practical and certainly not the most comfortable two-door coupe out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgqHq6WjD8s

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With new cars and new allies, Mitsubishi prepares for an electric future

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/mits ... tric-cars/

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This Glorious Beater Car Just Exists To Slide Through Fields

https://jalopnik.com/this-car-just-exis ... 1825148136

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Blick targets podium finish in Masaka

https://www.newvision.co.ug/new_vision/ ... ish-masaka

The 2015 NRC champion said this year, he will spend most of the time learning about his new car.



Former National Rally Champion, Arthur blick is targeting a podium finish in the Masaka Rally due April 27 to 29.

Navigated by his wife Noella Blick, the 2015 NRC champion said this year, he will spend most of the time learning about his new car before targeting the 2019 NRC title.

“This is a powerful and superior car than the Subaru N10 we have been driving, but we are going to push it 99 percent as we master how it behaves in corners, jumps, stretch before attacking 100 percent next season,” The 2015 Nile Special rally driver of the year said.

Blick has had a bad 2016, 2017 season, but the acquisition of a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 from former National champion Moses Lumala has restored hope among fans that he can now contest for NRC title.

He, however, declined to disclose the financial obligations saying that,” What you should know is that Lumala gave me a very good deal because he believes that I can put up a good contest when I have a good car.”

Blick said he will give the big boys who include Jas Mangat, Christakis Fitidis, Ronald Ssebuguzi and Duncan ‘Kikankane Mubiru a run for their money in the Masaka Rally due April 27-29.

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Mitsubishi Electric Cars to Power Dealerships in Japan

https://www.theautochannel.com/news/201 ... japan.html



15 Apr 2018; At the end of March, Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi announced it has developed a technology which will allow it to use an Outlander PHEV and its batteries to power the Engie’s office building in Zaandam, The Netherlands. This concept will be expanded soon in Japan as well, Mitsubishi says.

In the city of Saitama in Japan, Mitsubishi has pulled the wraps off a new building called Omiya Hyper Energy Station, a fancy name for a very special showroom. The facility is one of 200 solar-powered such locations Mitsubishi will open in the following two years in the country and the 28th such location that have already begun operating across Japan.

The showroom is all- green, being equipped with solar panels. It can also use an electric vehicle's battery power as an emergency power source. In Saitama, the location is also fitted with its own lithium-ion battery packs to provide power back up to the local electricity grid.

The on-site battery has a capacity of 12kWh and will be used to supply power for recharging electric vehicles in the event of a natural disaster or power outage.

"As our cars have evolved to become EVs and PHEVs, it was a natural progression for showrooms to become charging stations,” said Takashi Hiromatsu, Mitsubishi product strategy manager.

“Now, we can use batteries to store zero emission electricity from roof top solar panels and use it to manage energy demand at the dealership.”

As the carmaker detailed some weeks ago, the vehicle-to-building charging works by connecting a charger to the building's energy supply. The building is fitted with solar panels, and when power than needed is generated, the excess energy is stored in the battery of the electric car.

When the opposite occurs, and the building needs more power, the car’s batteries act as an emergency supply.

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Q&A: TREVOR MANN - Mitsu COO sees alliance enabling big strides

http://www.autonews.com/article/2018041 ... 98904DB8BA

Mitsubishi sold 103,686 vehicles in the U.S. last year, the first time it topped 100,000 since 2007.

Looking long term, Mitsubishi Motors Corp. COO Trevor Mann, 57, foresees the automaker flirting with 300,000 U.S. sales as it introduces new products such as the Eclipse Cross and begins to roll out vehicles on platforms that are shared with Renault-Nissan around 2021.



Mann visited the U.S. this month to check on the local operation and meet with dealers. He spoke with Staff Reporter Vince Bond Jr. on April 5 about Mitsubishi's growth in China, efforts to improve relations with dealers and the early savings the automaker is seeing as part of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.

Q: One of the big priorities for you coming in was to get finances in order. How is that going?
Trevor Mann

A:We are completely on track in terms of the midterm plan that we announced in October of last year. Just to refresh your memory on those numbers, to go from around 1 million sales to 1.3 million sales globally. Also a 30 percent increase in our revenues and to return to a 6 percent margin in terms of level profitability. We just collected all of the results for our fiscal year and it's 1.1 million [units]. We're ahead of the profit target and we're ahead of the volume target. Overall, I'm quite pleased. We're doing well.

Will the U.S. be one of Mitsubishi's big profit drivers?

The U.S. is one of our focus markets together with China. Over 30 million [vehicle sales] in China, 17 million in the U.S. As a company, we've performed relatively poorly in those markets. We're looking for significant growth. With our joint-venture partner in China, that brand alone, we grew almost 90 percent last year, partly helped with the localization of Outlander into that market. In the U.S., where we hadn't launched a new model until the end of the fiscal year, we've seen 10 percent growth. What that demonstrates is we're coming back together as a company in the U.S., together with our dealer body.

It was reported a year ago that I said we've got a bit of disengagement with our dealer body. We've worked hard over the last 18 months or so. I think this is my fifth visit to the U.S. in that period. Every time I come, we sit down with dealers. Understanding their voices, understanding their opinions, sharing our voices, opinions and needs with them is starting to work and we're starting to see the benefit in terms of overall performance of our dealer body. Ten percent growth in the U.S. last year without the significant impact of a new model suggests that we are starting to do things right collectively.

We have a lot of work to do still. We're aiming for significant growth in the future. In the mid to long term, I see us moving over the 100,000 units in the U.S. to really getting towards 300,000 units over the long term.


What type of feedback have you been getting from dealers?

One of the issues raised was in terms of our financing ability with Ally Bank. There were a number of issues raised with how we go out to market and the type of packages we're offering. Are we competitive? We said, let's take that example and work together with Ally and a subset of the dealer advisory body, and let's fix the issues people have raised. Yesterday, we had meetings with Ally. Today, meetings with the dealer advisory board. We're starting to put these issues to bed. We're starting to get significant improvement in those type of things. They are issues that are hindering our growth.

Does Mitsubishi still want to add dealers in the U.S.?

I think that at some point in time, we'll have to come across that. The most important thing is that we grow within our current network. What we need to do is make sure they grow, and grow profitably. If you look at our throughput for dealer performance, it's well below where we'd expect it to be.

Dealers have said they want a pickup for the U.S. Is that a possibility?

It's something we will look to address in our long-range product plan. It's on everybody's shopping list. It's obviously in our long-range product plan to make it work for us in the U.S., but we have nothing to actually announce right now.

What benefits have you seen from being in the alliance?

The alliance is a two-way street. We make contributions to the alliance. In terms of the benefits we are seeing on our bottom line, we should expect to see around $250 million directly to our bottom line for fiscal year '17. We would expect that would grow in fiscal year '18. The bulk of those savings came from procurement in terms of purchasing cost reductions, parts and services.

Our engineers are working now on common platforms and common powertrains, so the investments we have to make in those technologies are either a half or a third of what we would have to make if we were doing it by ourselves. We see that today as a cost avoidance instead of a profit improvement. We'll start to see the benefits of them in the models that will start to hit the streets around 2020, 2021.

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Mitsubishi Motors Brings New EV and PHEV Vehicles to Da Nang City in Vietnam

https://www.theautochannel.com/news/201 ... to-da.html




- Mitsubishi Motors' i-MiEVs, Outlander PHEVs and battery charging units to be used by the Da Nang City government in electric vehicle emissions reduction study

- Plug-in hybrid and pure electric vehicle technologies well suited for Vietnam's environmental programs to reduce air pollution caused by transportation

- Da Nang aims to transform into an 'Environmental City' by 2020, a goal which Mitsubishi Motors' clean automotive technologies can help achieve

TOKYO, Apr, 16 2018; Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has announced today the conclusion of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Industry and Trade People's Committee of Da Nang City (DOIT) and celebrated the handover of a series of new electric vehicles (EVs) in the City of Da Nang, Vietnam.

Today's event follows the conclusion in January of an MOU through which Mitsubishi Motors and the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade committed to explore how best to promote the use of EVs in the country.

In a ceremony taking place today, Mitsubishi Motors will provide two i-MiEV pure EVs, together with a further two Outlander PHEV plug-in hybrid EVs and two quick battery charger units to DOIT.

These vehicles will enable Mitsubishi Motors and the DOIT to study how EVs can reduce CO2 emissions and utilize popular sightseeing locations, specifically around Da Nang City and the Hoi An World Heritage site.

Vietnam is seeking ways to reduce CO2 emissions and to produce cleaner air and greener cities. Da Nang City launched an Environment City Plan in 2008, with the aim of transforming itself into an Environmental City by 2020.

Today's ceremony marks an important milestone in Da Nang City's efforts to achieve the ambitious goals set out in the Environment City Plan, specifically the goal of tackling air pollution caused by transportation.

Mitsubishi Motors, a global leader in plug-in hybrid EVs, continues to work to expand the use of EVs across the ASEAN region. Mitsubishi Motors has over 150,000 electric and plug-in hybrid EVs on the road today (of which 144,000+ are Outlander PHEVs), and its continued investments in PHEV and EV technologies mean this number is set to increase.

Since it first entered the Vietnamese market in 1994, Mitsubishi Motors has been committed to the development of the domestic auto market, and this new partnership with Da Nang City reflects its support for Vietnam's transition to a mature, low carbon economy.

About Mitsubishi Motors

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is the sixth largest automaker in Japan and the sixteenth largest in the world. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. From October 2016, Mitsubishi is one-third owned by Nissan, and a part of the Renault - Nissan - Mitsubishi Alliance. For more information, please visit www.mitsubishi-motors.com/en/index.html .

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Negocierile privind fuziunea Renault-Nissan, confirmate de Carlos Ghosn: “Suntem deschiși tuturor opțiunilor”

http://www.automarket.ro/stiri/negocier ... 84015.html



Șeful Renault, Carlos Ghosn, a confirmat negocierile cu Nissan privind o posibilă fuziune, subliniind că este deschis tuturor opțiunilor disponibile. Oficialul a declarat pentru presa japoneză că vrea să găsească o soluție până cel târziu în 2022.


Speculațiile despre o posibilă fuziune între Renault și Nissan nu reprezintă o noutate, Bloomberg anunțând la sfârșitul lunii martie că oficialii celor două companii s-au așezat la masa negocierilor.

În urma posibilei fuziuni va rezulta un singur constructor, iar la conducerea noii companii ar urma să fie instalat Carlos Ghosn, șeful Renault și al alianței Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi.

Potrivit presei japoneze, Carlos Ghosn a confirmat negocierile dintre Renault și Nissan privind o posibilă fuziune, fiind “deschis tuturor opțiunilor”. Oficialul a declarat că vrea să găsească o soluție până cel târziu în 2022.

Renault deține în prezent 43% dintre acțiunile Nissan, în timp ce Nissan deține 15% dintre acțiunile Renault. În plus, statul francez deține 15% dintre acțiunile Renault și și-a exprimat în mai multe rânduri intenția de a limita influența japonezilor în cadrul Alianței.

Astfel, negocierile privind fuziunea sunt așteptate să fie tensionate și îndelungate, eșecul discuțiilor fiind un scenariu posibil.

Alianța Renault-Nissan a anunțat la sfârșitul anului trecut o strategie comună pentru 2022 care vizează lansarea a 12 mașini electrice și 40 de mașini cu funcții autonome, dar și utilizarea a 4 platforme și 22 de motoare comune.

Via Automotive News

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Mitsubishi planning to bring back Lancer as hybrid crossover . It looks like all future Mitsubishis will be crossovers or SUVs

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/04/23/mit ... ybrid-suv/

It looks like the Mitsubishi Lancer is about to undertake a daring transformation from a ten-year-old sedan to a crossover. The Eclipse has already shed its coupe roots and become the Eclipse Cross, and now it's the Lancer's turn to become a high-rider.

The carmaker already teased its future plans with the e-Evolution concept last year (pictured above), again combining a previously successful Mitsubishi nameplate with new crossover intentions. Now, talking to AutoExpress, Mitsubishi's chief operating officer and chief designer both hint of the Lancer taking the shape of the e-Evolution.

For Mitsubishi, the Lancer's segment still looks very viable in the next decade, but it doesn't necessarily want to fight the Ford Focus and the VW Golf with a conventional hatchback, let alone a three-box saloon. "We believe we have a solution that could fit the segment", said COO Trevor Mann. "[The segment's] numbers are still expanding in China, so there's appeal. And I think because the segment is so large globally, we've got to take a look at it."

The chief designer, Tsunehiro Kunimoto said, "Just because it's C-segment, it doesn't mean it has to be a very conventional hatchback. Maybe we can create a new type of hatchback vehicle. We're thinking quite radically." It is also likely that the Lancer's eventual replacement will use hybrid technology and a Renault-Nissan Alliance platform — and an all-wheel-drive option would still be a nod to the Lancer Evo's heritage, at least partially justifying any use of the Evolution brand.

Trevor Mann says the product timeline is largely set until 2025, and the existing crossovers in the portfolio, the Outlander and the Outlander Sport (known elsewhere as the ASX) will get replacements. The company is now directing its attention to the Lancer and the Montero, both of which have last had a major update over ten years ago. The Lancer was phased out in the U.S. last fall after a very long run.

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Mitsubishi Lancer Could Return As A Crossover

https://www.carscoops.com/2018/04/mitsu ... crossover/



The Mitsubishi Lancer name will make a comeback as a C-segment crossover with styling previewed by last year’s e-Evolution concept, Auto Express reports.

Company boss Trevor Mann says that as the C-segment market continues to grow, particularly in China, the Japanese marque will look to create something the stands out.

“Lancer’s probably the easiest one; we believe we’ve got a solution that could fit the segment. Because if you look globally, the C-segment hatchback market is not shrinking. It’s down a bit in the US and Europe.

“But its numbers are still expanding in China. So there is appeal. And I think because the segment is so large globally, we’ve got to take a look at it.

“Just because it’s C-segment doesn’t mean it has to be a very conventional hatchback,” Mann said.

Mitsubishi chief design Tsunehiro Kunimoto added by saying that the brand “can create a new type of hatchback vehicle” saying that the company’s design philosophy is as much about originality as it is consistency.

In all probability, the all-new Mitsubishi Lancer will utilize the CMF C/D platform from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. Beyond supporting a crossover shape, this platform will also allow for the inclusion of Mitsubishi’s hybrid technologies and advanced all-wheel drive system.

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Mitsubishi Wants To Ruin The Good Lancer Name Next With Another Crossover

https://jalopnik.com/mitsubishi-wants-t ... 1825481584