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  • Mitsubishi joins recall party in the USA

    In Cars, International News, Mitsubishi / By / / 33 comments

    Better safer than sorry. In the wake of safety issues affecting auto makers, with the most high profile one being Toyota, other manufacturers are not waiting for something to happen before issuing a recall. The latest to join the party is Mitsubishi, involving the 2004 Endeavor SUV and 2010 Galant sedan in the US market. These cars could have corrosion issues that can cause flammable fluids to leak. This recall affects about 56,113 Endeavors and 2,307 Galants across America.

    For the SUV, the issue is salt, road salt used to “de-ice” roads in winter to be precise. The road salt, when mixed with other debris, can become trapped between the Endeavor’s fuel filler pipe and reinforcing bracket, leading to possible corrosion and a fuel leak.

    For the Galant, the oil cooler pipe for the automatic gearbox on some vehicles may have insufficient corrosion-preventing plating. Rust can lead to a hole where ATF fluid can leak out. The recall exercise starts in March for the Galant and July for the Endeavor, and will not cost owners a cent, of course.

    Local owners need not demand Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia to explain – both models aren’t sold here and while we have plenty of potholes, our roads are not full of salt.

     

  • Mitsubishi’s Ralliart division winds down operations

    In International News, Mitsubishi, Motorsports / By / / 52 comments

    Mitsubishi’s Ralliart is one of the more famous performance divisions, thanks to the brand’s rally winning exploits and the Lancer Evolution series’ cult following.

    So it’s sad news to hear that Ralliart is the latest to succumb to the changed environment the automotive world had to face ever since the global financial crisis hit. It is winding down operations.

    Mitsubishi’s quit the WRC in 2005, and more recently abandoned its Dakar Rally exploits last year, including all rally raid events. Mitsubishi is the most successful manufacturer in the Dakar, with 12 wins in 26 appearances, including a record seven back-to-back victories from 2001 to 2007. With this latest development, Ralliart will no longer lend support to motorsport customers and privateers. Also put to a stop is the planning, development and selling of Ralliart products.

    “The business circumstance surrounding our company radically became worse and so, this time we have reached the conclusion that we Ralliart Inc, would scale down our business activities as of the end of March 2010,” according to Ralliart Inc’s president Masao Taguchi, in a “farewell letter” to customers, which you can read for yourself after the jump.
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  • Mitsubishi sells 100,000 i-MiEVs to a single buyer?

    In Cars, Citroën, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Mitsubishi, Peugeot / By / / 16 comments

    Yes, that’s true, and the buyer in question is PSA Peugeot Citroën. Mitsubishi has announced the signing of a “Final Cooperative Agreement” that will see the French giant purchase 100,000 units of the i-MiEV electric car. PSA will market the rebadged i-MiEV as the Peugeot iOn and Citroen C-Zero. Both French badged cars will go on sale in Europe by the end of this year, starting with their domestic market.

    This sealed deal comes just after both parties failed to agree terms for a capital alliance in the style of Renault and Nissan. Mitsubishi Motors CEO Osamu Masuko and PSA chief Philippe Varin met at Geneva and jointly released a statement that a capital tie-up would not be realistic although both companies would continue to expand business ties.

    Besides this latest deal, which would help Mitsubishi achieve better economies of scale for an expensive project, PSA also bases its Peugeot 4007 and Citroen C-Crosser on the Japanese maker’s Outlander SUV.

     

  • Mitsubishi RVR crossover launched in Japan!

    In Cars, Mitsubishi / By / / 50 comments

    This is Mitsubishi’s new RVR crossover, which has been launched in Japan. The European version, to be called ASX, will make its debut at the Geneva show, as reported earlier. The five seater slots below the Outlander in Mitsubishi’s SUV family and comes with a 1.8-litre MIVEC engined (codenamed 4B10) which is a sibling of the GEMA World Engine unit found in our Lancer.

    The RVR’s DOHC 16v unit makes 137 bhp and 172 Nm of torque at 4,200 rpm, and is paired to a CVT ‘box with six “ratios” controlled by shift paddles. Claimed fuel consumption, according to the Japanese 10-15 mode, is 15.2 km/l for the 2WD model and 15.0 km/l for the 4WD variant.

    The RVR’s length, width and height of 4,295 mm, 1,770 mm and 1,615 mm respectively means its dimensions closely mirrors that of the Nissan Qashqai, which was recently given a facelift. The RVR’s wheelbase measures 2,670 mm, which is pretty long considering that the larger Honda CR-V has a 2,620 mm wheelbase.

    In terms of looks, the RVR pictured here gets the Lancer’s shark nose but it isn’t fully blacked out like the ASX image we saw before. Inside, the RVR gets a very simple looking dashboard, and Lancer owners will be familiar with many of the elements.

    Gallery after the jump.
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  • Mitsubishi-PSA Peugeot Citroen taking their relationship to the next level?

    In International News, Mitsubishi, Peugeot / By / / 12 comments

    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.

     

  • Mitsubishi ASX previewed ahead of Geneva

    In 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Cars, Mitsubishi / By / / 48 comments

    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

    In Cars, Local News, Mitsubishi / By / / 169 comments

    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?

    In Cars, Hybrids and Alternative Fuel, Mitsubishi / By / / 18 comments

    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.

     

  • Mitsubishi RVR: official name for new crossover

    In Cars, International News, Mitsubishi / By / / 47 comments

    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.

     

  • PSA Peugeot-Citroen to buy Mitsubishi stake?

    In Cars, Citroën, International News, Mitsubishi, Peugeot / By / / 14 comments

    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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