On the face of it that seems like a stupid statement I’m sure. Mitsubishi made the unforgivable sin of putting the name “Eclipse” on a crossover, they dropped the Evo, flirted with the idea of the Evo name coming back as a crossover, and have been making wholly underwhelming vehicles for a while now. It’s almost as if I’m asking you guys to root for the villain right now. However, in the case of enthusiasts who want cars like the Eclipse and Evo back, I think it’s in our best interest that we sincerely hope Mitsubishi’s efforts to get some cash flowing in works. This is why…
Porsche in the early 2000s
while it may seem like Porsche has never taken a bad turn before, those of us who know their past (and rose above blind loyalism) understand that this isn’t true. Back in the late 90s and early 2000s, Porsche was in real trouble. While the Boxster saved Porsche from bankruptcy, it alone wouldn’t be enough to keep Porsche around for the next decade. That was the job of the Cayenne, and thankfully it did its job, because we still have Porsche around today and all of their glorious limited edition models and the fantastic Cayman GT4.
It’s common to see enthusiast bemoaning the rise of SUVs and Crossovers from companies like Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Maserati, and soon Ferrari, but with Porsche, it was a necessary evil to ensure they’d still be around and have enough money to produce cars that enthusiasts actually wanted (the 911, Cayman GT4, 918, and more). We all want car makers to continue making the cars we love them for, but they’re still businesses, and that means they need to turn a profit to stay afloat.
Here’s where Mitsubishi comes in.
I think most of us know that Mitsubishi has been struggling in the U.S. For some time now (well, kind of struggling everywhere for some time really). Their quality wasn’t up to par and the age of their lineup was showing as well (and, unlike Dodge, meaningful updates were few and minor to moderate). Mitsubishi was losing prominence and that means fewer sales. A killer for a car like the Evo, which isn’t exactly a moneymaker as it is.
See where this is going? Mitsubishi needs a solid base of consumer cars to get the cash flowing like it once was so they have the funds to develop fun cars like the Evo and perhaps even an Eclipse. Mitsubishi was always the smaller automaker out of the likes of Nissan, Honda, Toyota, and others, but that didn’t stop them from creating cars like the 3000GT, FTO, Eclipse, Lancer Evo, Galant VR4, and others. Of course the world and the market are different from when it was back in the 80s and 90s, but there’s still room for sports cars and fun sedans if Mitsubishi can afford it.
And that’s what we should be rooting for right now. Not directly rooting for SUVs and Crossovers, but rooting for Mitsubishi to find ways to afford developing the cars we’d like to see. Right now, that just means making a butt load of high-riding hatchbacks…
What do you think though? Do you like this perspective, or would you rather Mitsubishi have continued making performance cars and neglect SUVs? Let me know in the comments below.