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Mitsubishi-PSA Peugeot Citroen taking their relationship to the next level?

January 20, 2010 at 10:43 am By Danny Tan Filed Under International News, Mitsubishi, Peugeot

PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi met this week in Tokyo to negotiate a deal that may give the French carmaker a controlling stake in the Japanese company, two people familiar with the matter said to Bloomberg. Both currently work together in sharing vehicles, but this development looks set to create an alliance in the Renault-Nissan mould.

A transaction would involve share swaps. At least four scenarios are being discussed, with one proposal of Peugeot taking 51 per cent of Mitsubishi in exchange for $1.8 billion in cash and 18 per cent of Peugeot, although that plan didn’t win support, the sources added.

PSA may be suffering from peer pressure. VW recently bought into Suzuki, while Renault has a significant holding in Nissan. Mitsubishi may not be the perfect Asia bride though. Nissan is a much bigger company than the Lancer’s maker, with a bigger global footprint. Renault and it are jointly investing in India and Russia, markets with huge growth potential. Suzuki meanwhile, is the market leader in India and has annouced plans to add small-car production in emerging markets including Pakistan, Indonesia and Vietnam.

If the deal falls through, PSA will be the second European partner for Mitsubishi. Germany-based Daimler AG bought 37 per cent of MMC in 2000 and 2001, before exiting in 2004 after refusing to pour in more aid money.

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Mitsubishi ASX previewed ahead of Geneva

January 20, 2010 at 1:02 am By Danny Tan Filed Under 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Cars, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi will premiere its ASX compact crossover at the 80th Geneva Motor Show in March. The ASX is the European version of the Japanese market RVR, which will go on sale next month. MMC’s small SUV seats five and will slot below the recently redesigned Outlander, now with Lancer style shark nose.

The Euro-spec ASX will come with an all-new Euro 5 ready 1.8-litre turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine, jointly developed by MMC and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. Featuring “Automatic Stop & Go” technology with a 6-speed manual transmission, the ASX is said to be very good for economy and emissions.

Not much details available for now, so take a look at the ASX’s rear after the jump.
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Limited-edition Mitsubishi Lancer 2.0 GTS

January 6, 2010 at 1:58 pm By Danny Tan Filed Under Cars, Local News, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia has just unveiled the special edition Lancer 2.0 GTS, which is limited to 100 units. The 2.0 GTS features a spruced up exterior and cabin. Cosmetic add ons include rear air dams and diffuser style bumper, faux carbon fibre trim on the rear spoiler and side skirts as well as gun metal grey rims, which are identical in design to the standard 18-inch wheels. There’s also an “S” added to the rear 2.0 GT emblem and Ralliart stickers.

Inside, the 2.0 GTS sports new leather covers for the seats, now with Ralliart style red and orange stitching, while the gear knob gets red stitching. These and the bodykit are fitted locally, except for the Ralliart stickers and S badge, which come from Thailand.

The special edition Lancer 2.0 GTS is priced at RM123,046.10 on the road without insurance. This means that you pay about RM2500 extra over a standard 2.0 GT. Buyers will get a Ralliart jacket with their new GTS.

Close up shots of the new bits after the jump!
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Charge your EV to 80% in half an hour?

December 10, 2009 at 1:18 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Mitsubishi

i-miev-quick-charge

We are so used to checking 0 to 100 numbers when we look at car specs, but when electric cars start penetrating the market in a bigger way, we might be looking at another kind of 0 to 100 number – 100 percent that is. How long will it take for a certain car to get a full charge on the battery?

Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV can get from 0 to 80 in just 30 minutes with a new quick charger supplied by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. The quick charger uses a 3-phase 400V input (Japan uses 110V power) and outputs a 50kW DC output. The maximum DC out is 500V and 100A. The quick charger measures about 2 meters tall by 1 meter wide and 80cm deep.

Such chargers can be implemented at highway rest stops for electric cars to do longer journeys in Malaysia. For shorter journeys, you can drive to work and back or perhaps just give your car a little charge at the office, but then of course there is the issue of our parking lots not having charging bays. Without a way to charge (as in $$$) people to charge their cars, EV charging will be centered mostly at home for quite some time.

Would you be able to accept an EV for daily use if you can charge it up to 80% capacity in half an hour? In the whole Malaysian context I feel it would be a little hard for me to accept an EV as my sole car at the moment. Even the cheapest car here in Malaysia still requires a loan of a few years to afford to buy, and an EV is just not versatile enough for me to commit a few years of car loan to buy one. Things are probably different in Europe where buying a car does not take that huge of a strain on your monthly income and you can have one city vehicle while keeping another long distance wagon or something.

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Mitsubishi RVR: official name for new crossover

December 3, 2009 at 6:00 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mitsubishi

mitsubishi-rvr-1

First we saw the sketch, and now the production model has been revealed. This is Mitsubishi’s new compact crossover that will go on sale in Europe in Japan from February next year onwards, before touching European soils at Geneva 2010.

The new ‘compact crossover’ is called the Mitsubishi RVR, and will be powered by a new 1.8 litre MIVEC engine. Mitsubishi says this is all-new but it could be the 4B10, a smaller version of the 2.0 litre 4B11 found in the Mitsubishi Lancer GT here in Malaysia.

mitsubishi-rvr-2

The new Mitsubishi RVR is about 4,300mm in length (we don’t have the full dimension numbers yet as this is just an initial unveiling), but a 4.3 meter length is much longer tan the Toyota Urban Cruiser’s 3,930mm length. 4.3 meters is much closer to the short wheelbase Toyota RAV4′s 4,395mm length and Peugeot 3008′s 4,365mm length.

You could probably consider it a tall riding version of the Lancer Sportback. These two shots are all we have right now so I’ll update you later when there are more, especially shots of the interior.

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PSA Peugeot-Citroen to buy Mitsubishi stake?

December 3, 2009 at 5:14 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Citroën, International News, Mitsubishi, Peugeot

Citroen C-Crosser
One of the first fruits of the PSA-Mitsubishi partnership

The world’s automakers continue to be rocked by the recession and lots of changes are being made to trim fat, find synergies, stay afloat and continue to be profitable, or even continue existing for same! Now we could be looking at another French-Japanese alliance. Aafter all Renault-Nissan seems to be working well. Nikkei English News claims that PSA Peugeot Citroen would be taking up a stake of between 30 to 50 percent in Mitsubishi, if talks go well and an agreement is reached.

Mitsubishi and PSA currently have a few projects together. Most of them involve PSA using Mitsubishi products to plug gaps in their product offering, such as the Mitsubishi Outlander being sold in Europe as the Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C-Crosser. French badges are also put on the Mitsubishi i as PSA’s own electric offerings.

Peugeot did not comment on whether this was true. Mitsubishi didn’t either, but said that it was in talks with the French automaker group to increase their levels of cooperation. They did not deny that a capital tie-up could be one of the options being considered.

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Mitsubishi Triton 2.5 Standard: more details revealed!

November 26, 2009 at 5:52 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Local News, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi has launched the Triton 2.5 Standard earlier today and we now have more information to share with you concerning the new variant that sits between the Triton Lite and the Triton 2.5. Compared to the latter, the exterior of the Standard lacks the side steps, sports bar and front fog lamps.

Inside, the steering wheel, gear knob and the hand brake lever are all finished in urethane while the audio unit does not have Bluetooth or USB connectivity but has MP3 and WMA playback. The 2.5 Standard also does not come with any airbags unfortunately. Last but not least, as seen in the image above, the Triton 2.5 Standard has its wheel arches in grey, instead of body colour. It has a 136 PS 2.5 litre turbodiesel mated to a manual transmission and has a 4X4 configuration.

Related Posts:
New Mitsubishi Triton Standard goes for RM77,715.80, more details to come soon!

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New Mitsubishi Triton Standard goes for RM77,715.80, more details to come soon!

November 26, 2009 at 3:54 pm By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, Local News, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia will introduce a new Triton variant today. This new model is called the Triton 2.5 Standard. The Triton 2.5 Standard carries a RM77,715.80 price tag (on-the-road, without insurance) which is about RM16,000 more than the Triton Lite and is RM14,000 less than the price you would pay for a Triton 2.5.

The engine is the same 2.5 litre turbodiesel unit found in the Triton 2.5, meaning it produces 136 PS at 3,500 revs and 314Nm of torque at 2,000 revs. The engine is paired with a manual transmission. Potential buyers can choose between two colour options including Cool Silver Metallic and White Solid.

Unfortunately I do not know at the moment what this new variant lacks compared to the more expensive Triton 2.5 that has been available all this while. What we do know is that its exterior looks will be similiar to the Triton (and not the Triton Lite), and it will continue to have a 4X4 system.

More information will be shared once it becomes available.

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First sketch of production Mitsubishi Compact Crossover based on the Concept-cX

October 30, 2009 at 12:58 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Mitsubishi

mitsu-compact-crossover
Click for enlarged image

Mitsubishi has released a sketch of a new “Compact Crossover” based on the Mitsubishi Concept-cX concept car that it displayed two years ago. Mitsubishi claims it will be a game changer for it in the European market. They say they’ve been associated mostly with SUVs in the past, mostly thanks to the Pajero and now the Outlander. The new vehicle continues to have the same family look that they’re slapping on every car they have out there including the Colt, and will be the firm’s first ‘crossover’. The new car will go on sale in Japan from February 2010 onwards, and will make its European debut at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show.

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Japanese market Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X receives minor changes

October 26, 2009 at 2:08 am By Harvinder Sidhu Filed Under Cars, International News, Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi has announced some changes for the 2010 model year of the Lancer Evolution X. At the moment these changes only affect the Evolution X sold in Japan and it is unclear if the updated Evolution X will reach our shores.

Exterior wise, the ‘Evo’ has received thicker side skirts while the plastic parts up front (around the front bumper) are now collectively lighter by 1.5 kg. This should improve power to weight ratio but Mitsubishi did not reveal performance figures for the 2010 model. On the inside, the trim has been tweaked and there is a new colour LCD screen that is nestled between the speedometer and tachometer. The screen features better readability and offers more functions. Under the hood, the only update is the engine cover that is now made of resin, although the auto maker did not reveal the benefits offered by the material – perhaps weight reduction (like the bumpers, etc)?

mivec-turbo-engine-cover

Other updates includes a windshield with noise reduction properties, an improved cruise control function, “welcome lights” and “coming home lights” features that turn on headlights when entering and leaving the car at night as well as a one-touch window washer function with improved water atomization. Chrome rings have also been added to the air conditioning control knobs.

The 5-speed manual for the range-topping GSR Premium Edition model has been dropped. Instead, it only comes with a 6-speed dual clutch SST transmission. The 5-speed manual is now only offered with GSR and RS trim levels.

Pricing in Japan starts from 3,150,000 yen (about RM 116,000) for the RS and tops out at 5,071,500 yen (about RM 186,000) for the GSR Premium Edition.

Look for more images after the jump.
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