Mitsubishi Motors faces a test that could cripple or even ruin the car company. It admitted it used tests that cheated Japanese emissions regulators as far back as 1991. It has a chance to weather the storm in its home market. However, in the United States it has been a weak competitor for years. It may have to quit the American market as part of a global retrenching.
Mitsubishi sold 25,212 cars and light trucks in the United States in the first quarter, up 6% from the same period a year ago. Its share of the market is 0.6%. It operates in a cutthroat business in which high-mileage low-priced cars are offered by every major manufacturer.
Mitsubishi said in January it would close its only U.S. plant, another sign of its ongoing retreat from the American market.
Mitsubishi’s challenge in the United States revolves around the small number of models it sells, against manufacturers that have dozens of models. Its only vehicles are the Outlander sport utility vehicle (SUV), Lancer sedan and small Mirage crossover. It also has an electric car, the i-MIEV. The electric car segment of the U.S. industry has become crowded, and the number of products will continue to soar.
Three of Mitsubishi’s six non-electric vehicles sell for under $20,000 and have miles per gallon numbers of 35 or better.
In the 2014 version of the 24/7 Wall St. list of 10 brands that will disappear, the editors listed Mitsubishi among them. The year was wrong, but the evaluation may be right for 2016.
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