Mitsubishi Not Dead Yet: Nissan Takes Control

  • Thread starter YSSMAN
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It was fun while it lasted.

Mitsubishi do off-roading and turbos well. I'm lookin forward to their crossover(s).
 
Mitsubishi Eclipse is back, but it's going to be a ...............CUV.
So Mitsubishi is turning to the booming crossover class with an all-new SEAT Ateca and Nissan Qashqai rival.

The car is still a year away – and it’s likely to be called the Eclipse when it arrives – but Auto Express got exclusive access to a development prototype to find out how it’s shaping up.
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If they called it the Eclipse and it was a Nissan Juke or Toyota C-HR competitor, I'd be fine with it. Increased ride height aside, if it is still a turbo AWD model that's fun to drive, the only issue would be the lack of a coupe body style. But, since Toyota seems to be getting away with that on the C-HR, I see no reason why Mitsubishi couldn't do the same. With a proper powertrain, it could be a hell of a lot of fun with a decent skin overtop.
 
As mentioned before, it does not look as athletic as a C-HR or Juke so I don't get why they used the name associated with a sports coupe series. Surely that must indicate plans towards a performance model?
 
Looks like a Qashqai, but then again it's probably largely based on it.

As for the name, if it is intended to compete in the same market as the Ateca and Qashqai, both of which as far as I know are mainly European market models, I can sort of see how they could use the name for something completely different than the original. The Eclipse was discontinued for those handful of European countries it was ever available to begin with after the first two and even in those few markets the sales were never that great.
 
Grandea GTR
Makes as much sense as making an SUV and calling it a Skyline. Why?
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Well...

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But yeah, that is just poor naming. Ford did something similar with the Kuga, but that only shared the phonetics of the older nameplate and helped it separate itself. To be fair, Eclipse wouldn't be such a bad name for European markets (continental Europe did get the 2G, but only in limited numbers which barely sold anyway), but in America? That's gonna confuse a customer base who probably thought Mitsubishi left the market years ago.

Why not call it the Airtrek? Or the ASX / Outlander Sport / RVR? It's not like Mitsubishi haven't got a back catalogue of SUVs to revive nameplates from.
 
R1600Turbo
Not really. A lot more 'square'.

http://www.carscoops.com/2017/01/mitsubishi-compact-suv-teased-ahead-of.html

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That doesn't look too bad to me. Presumably with those details it's going to be influenced by the XR-PHEV concept, only with less cartoonish proportions.

I think a lot of people are missing something quite important about Mitsubishi's recent product introductions too - they've both stemmed the maker's sales decline of the past decade or so and then completely reversed it.

Sales in Europe have been going up for several years now. Sales in the US have been going up too, largely on the back of cars like the Mirage. That car gets a lot of crap, and having driven them I concur that it's not a great car, but it also fills a clear niche in the US market for a genuinely fuel-efficient, inexpensive small car. Sales have gone up every year since it was introduced.

Much as people get frustrated that Mitsubishi isn't making Evos or sports coupes any more (two types of product that, let's be honest, aren't exactly huge sellers), they're actually doing quite well right now, because they're building the cars they actually need to.

This new ASX/RVR/Outlander Sport/Eclipse/whatever, if it's any good, will clearly be an important car too - since the compact crossover market is absolutely massive right now and the current ASX is getting long in the tooth. Incidentlally, the Outlander Sport has increased US sales year-on-year since it was introduced too, save for a small dip in 2016 (which was still the second-highest year's sales overall, and it's Mitsubishi's top-selling car).
 
If they called it an Eclipse, it's going to be the 80s Challenger all over again:


Uninteresting car with a name that used to be on an interesting car.
 
RocZX
Mitsubishi Eclipse is back, but it's going to be a ...............CUV.

AutoExpress

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Sorry for the language, but is Mitsubishi retarded? Do they really want to put the Eclipse nameplate on this thing? It doesn't make sense, the Eclipse is front-drive sports car, why make it anything but?
 
CLowndes888
Do they really want to put the Eclipse nameplate on this thing? It doesn't make sense, the Eclipse is front-drive sports car, why make it anything but?
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I think Mitsubishi is so out of ideas that they are taking old nameplates and slapping them on random new cars.
 
CLowndes888
It doesn't make sense, the Eclipse is front-drive sports car, why make it anything but?
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Because they are after name recognition when launching a new model since many (many) of their older nameplates have rather toxic reputations, the Eclipse is about 17 years removed from being particularly sporty anyway, and allegedly sporty crossovers have long since gobbled up the money that previously went to allegedly sporty coupe versions of midsized sedans.


That isn't to say that an obviously cynical badge attempt on a completely unrelated car will work (Dodge Dart, Pontiac GTO, Chrysler Imperial, Mercury Cougar, etc.), but the logic they are following is fairly straightforward.
 
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Well, a little bit higher hip-height entry helps the body. Bring them. Bring them all, I say. The aftermarket has lowering kits for SUV/CUVs. Having them based on sister sedans and hatches is fine.

Soon, people will cry out for more power. A factory CUV that can hang with a Macan Turbo in a straight line, might not be far off(Juke R, Qashqai R).

It'll only take someone like Mad Mike to start drifting a CX-3 and these things will be the next 1st-gen Forester turbos.
 

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