IN A NUTSHELL: Somewhat primitive and basic in its building and layout, but significant in that it may symbolize new life for Mitsubishi-U.S.A.

https://www.autogiants.com/mitsubishi/








Although I write up a lot of new vehicles (and sometimes older or used ones), it is very unusual, for me, at least, to write up a new-vehicle dealership. But this is one of those rare occasions when I actually (IMO) run across a significant reason to write one up. Mitsubishi Motors has been steadily losing new-vehicle dealerships all across the United States now, for several years now....in that sense, they are somewhat like Isuzu and Suzukis's automotive operations before they left the American market, when those dealerships also steadily thinned out over a number of years. Indeed, when Isuzu left the American market, the company was down to selling just two new vehicles here, neither of them of Isuzu origin.....a decontented/rebadged GM Chevy Trailblazer called the Ascender, and a completely awful rebadged/first-generation GM Chevy Colorado compact pickup truck called the I-270 or I-350, depending on the engine. One has to compare the first-generation Colorado with its very nice second-generation successor to truly appreciate how poorly-done that first model was, but I won't really get into that here...I've written that up before.

The loss of Mitsubishi's American-market dealerships over the last several years has been significant. The last two new Mitsubishi products I've reviewed, here in Northern Virginia /Washington D.C. suburbs were an Outlander (by CL-member request) at a small Mitsubishi stand-alone dealer just south of Dulles Airport (they have since closed up), and a bare-bones Mitsubishi Mirage, which listed for barely $13,000, at a somewhat larger Mitsubishi shop on Route 1, which shared a franchise with another vehicle-brand that I don't quite remember....I think (?) it was Nissan. The Mitsubishi franchise at that place also closed up not much later. The reason I reviewed a base-level Mirage was to see what kind of new car one could still get (at the time) for that kind of small-sum. And base it was, especially by 21st-Century standards. It reminded me of the 1960s compacts I had first learned to drive on...no A/C, hand-crank windows, manual door locks, manually adjust both side-mirrors (in fact, most cars in the 1960s only had one mirror...on the driver's side), minimal sound-insulation, slab-like seats, a low-powered non-turbo three-cylinder, and a five-speed manual transmission. In other words, base transportation in every sense of the word....you probably wouldn't want to take a date out to dinner in something like this.


And then, of course, when those last two Mitsubishi dealers in Northern Virginia closed up, that was it....none left, although there were still a few across the river in Maryland...how long they will still be there is anybody's guess. And, it apparently was (or is) the same across much of the U.S. Not that long ago, I got a call from a friend who lived in Carson City, NV....he was interested in a new vehicle for him and his wife, did not have a whole lot of money to spend. I suggested a look, maybe, at a new Mitsubishi Outlander Sport. It seemed to be more or less ideal for his needs. Though not a vehicle with very impressive road manners (the regular Outlander wasn't all that refined, either), it offered AWD, decent fuel-economy for a vehicle of that type, enough room inside for taller people like them, at least some room to carry things in the back, an interesting paint-color choice (Mitsubishi has long-offered non-traditional colors), and a very long standard factory warranty comparable to Korean-badged vehicles...all at a very low price starting between 19 and 20K.


Fine.....until I sat down and did a dealer-search for him, and found out that the nearest Mitsubishi dealership to Carson City, at the time, was almost 80 miles away, in California. Well, so much for that. He has since moved to Europe and got a small Opel.


So, I was quite surprised when I happened to notice, just a few days ago, an ad for a new Mitsubishi franchise in Northern Virginia.....Auto Giant Mitsubishi in Manassas. Mitsubishi officials are adamant, at least in public, that they are not going to follow the lead of Isuzu and Suzuki in packing up and leaving the American market. Frankly, I had not believed them, given that they had not had a display at the D.C. Auto Show for years, they were fast becoming a niche-brand in the U.S., their share of the American market was down to something like one-half of one percent (probably not even that any more), and that we had heard some of the same double-talk from Suzuki officials before they folded. But, I did a dealer-search on the Mitsubishi website itself, and it did verify the existance of this new franchise. So, fellows, welcome back to Northern Virginia. Except for the Los Angeles / Southern California region, you couldn't have chosen a more lucrative new-car market...this region has lots of money, a recession-resistant economy centered around the Federal Government/high-tech firms/contractors, and some of the strongest new-vehicle sales in the country.....though, admittedly, that doesn't change the fact that Mitsubishi dealerships have come here before and yet folded.


So, I decided to take a little run out to the place and look it over. On the way out, I gassed up....Shell gas prices there were about 40 cents cheaper a gallon than they were in my neighborhood. The place turned out to be pretty much the way it appears on the web-site......I also took some I-Phone7 shots of the showroom and main building (Yep, finally got rid of that old I-Phone4 and replaced it with a much newer 7). They were happy to let me take shots when I told them I was from CL and doing it for a Car Chat write-up. The place is definitely old-school...a huge painted-cinder-block building that uses about half of the building as the new Mitsubishi franchise, and the rest of the building as a used-car outlet that sits in what is partly a industrial-park donated by several other auto-related businesses. Inside, the rather stark and basic-looking showroom was humongous....easily the lions share of the building, though a smaller customer-lounge and the Service/Parts Department were next to it. They had parked twenty-one new Mitsubishi products (I counted them) inside that huge showroom. I asked them how they had managed to get a new Mitsubishi franchise when so many other Mitsubushi shops were closing up. They did not answer in detail (perhaps it was none of my business)...but admitted that it was not easy. The dealership owner's son (who was also working in sales) gave me a brief tour of the place...and filled me in on some specs on the latest Mitsubishi products. He verified what I had suspected...that the Lancer was out of production.

And, although I had not gone there to formally review new vehicles but to see the dealership, I had not seen any new Mitsubishi vehicles for several years (as I said, they have not attended the D.C. Auto Show for some time), so, naturally, I took the time to look them over. In the American market, Mitsubishi still sells the Outlander, Outlander Sport, Outlander PHEV, Eclipse Cross, Mirage Hatchback, and Mirage G4 sedan. None of these are particularly plush, luxurious, sporty, or impressive vehicles to look at or sit in...the larger, more impressive, and more sport-oriented Mitsubishis, like the Galant, Diamante, and Evo, are all gone from the American market. These were all, at least to an extent, just basic small-sedan and crossover-SUV transportation, with only a few frills here and there. I thought, from the few vehicles Mitsubishi still markets here in the U.S., that the Eclipse Cross had what was probably the best overall fit/finish, though the Outlander has a few nicer parts inside, like felt-covered sun-visors to the hard-plastic ones in the Eclipse Cross. The Outlander Sport, just as I had recommended for my friend in Carson City several years ago, still, even today, seemed to be the best Mitsubishi value for the buck, and the most vehicle for the money, though its base price has risen about $1000 or so since then, from 19K to 20K. And, yes, for the Scrooges of this world, bare-bones Mirage hatchbacks and Mirage G4 sedans are still available....this dealership had dozens of them in stock, though only one or two with manual transmission, and the rest with the CVT. Mirages are still Mirages, though, and come with 15-inch wheels/tires, almost no trim, and a minimum of frills. Most of them listed for 15-16K on the price sticker....maybe a couple slightly more. The lowest-priced one I saw on the lot was somewhere between 13-14K, which is just about as inexpensive as you are going to get in today's new-vehicle market. One thing I noticed on most of the new Mitsubishi products there was the way they engineer the hatchback-lids to have a solid thunk when closing....more so than the doors on the side, which didn't feel particularly solid.


So, anyhow, I had quite a morning there...and stopped off for lunch on the half-hour-drive or so home. It wasn't much of a dealership to look at, except for the huge but primitive showroom chock-full of new vehicles. But the very fact that it now exists may (?) be a sign of some new life in the Mitsubishi organization here in America. We'll wait and see, of course, but perhaps the Mitsubishi-U.S.A. execs were serious when they said that they weren't going to follow Isuzu and Suzuki into oblivion.


And, as Always, Happy Car-Shopping


MM