The End Of An Era: Nissan To Take Control Of Mitsubishi

Last month, it was alleged that Mitsubishi Motors had been manipulating fuel economy testing procedures in the Japanese market, and given the company’s long lasting struggles, many wondered if that might spell the end of the brand. Not yet it seems.

Yesterday, it was announced that Nissan will be buying a controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation – 34 per cent of the company at US 2.2 billion dollars to be exact. Mitsubishi had already been building kei cars for Nissan, so the move makes sense; but what exactly this means for the two companies remains to be seen. Nissan clearly values Mitsubishi’s EV and small car capabilities, so those areas are likely where the crossovers will occur. But given the recent track record of both companies, it’s probably not a good idea to get your hopes up about the return of the Evo using GT-R technology. Although, imagine that…

Even so, this seems a lot better than the alternative of seeing Mitsubishi Motors disappear altogether. Maybe there’s still life in the brand yet.

Mike Garrett
Instagram: japanifornia
mike@speedhunters.com

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1
TarmacTerrorist

Eh?! What!! No! I'm.... Huh.
Huh.
At least they will keep going (as you say). So I welcome the news for that alone. We can't loose another historic Marque. And boy do they have history! however if I'm correct (I'm usually not) that makes them: Ren-issa-bish-initi co.
And that's just the motoring side.
Renault-Nissan-Mitsibishi-infiniti. at what point do the monopolies commissions get involved over market share I wonder.. I'm glad to see them survive but am dismayed at the possibility of loosing more individual brand identities and unique design aesthetics as it it would signal the march toward all cars being bland clones of the next.

2

Amen.

3
Slappy_Pistons

New Starion prease.

4
Chris Nuggets

And who pointed out Mitsubishi's fuel economy cheating? Nissan! Clever Ghosn. But not as clever as the Mitsubishi engineers who overinflated their mileage figures by overinflating their tires lol

5

They aren't buying enough to own/control the company so I'm not sure. Maybe Nissan is just getting its feet wet and seeing how well it goes for now. Then if/when Mitsubishi starts turning out to be profitable Nissan will but enough shares to be controlling share holder

6

Alright, now you listen here...

The end of an era already came and went. This, my friends, is the start of a new era. Mitsubishi Motors was going to die out, but Nissan just saved their bacon.

7

Slappy_Pistons  Yes please. I miss mine.

8

The "return EVO using GTR technology"... Mitsubishi EVR? ETR? GVR? LOL...XD

9
inspector_exacto

I was letting my imagination run wild at work today after hearing this. Imagine, if you will, a joint venture much like Toyota and Subaru with the GT86/BRZ where Nissan/Mitsubishi makes a small RWD coupe, the Nissan Silvia and Mitsubishi Lancer, powered by a version of Nissan's 1.6 Turbo from the Juke Nismo. That engine in Nismo tune is good for north of 200hp. Toyota would feel the heat for sure!

10

Speedhunters Mitsubishi really need to update the evo. In a big way. Having said that. Subaru do as well. They used to be benchmark cars.

11

Speedhunters now fwd car's outrun them on freeways and out handle them. They both need new engines and upgraded chassis

12
QuattrogroupB

I agree just enough share holding for influence. But i think they should let this boat sink. Mitsubishi is like a grey diamond. Has to much lack luster for value.

13

imsqeno Speedhunters no.

14

Nick_d_123 Speedhunters huh?

16

Nick_d_123 Speedhunters are they stock.

17

Nick_d_123 Speedhunters don't get me wrong. I don't hate them. Quite contrary. They got me into cars. But they're falling behind. No doubt

18

imsqeno Speedhunters I just disagree with FWD being a performance driving platform. My preference and observation. They can be fast though

19

Nick_d_123 Speedhunters yep, I totally see where you're coming from dude. But both configurations, if set up well. Can rip your face off

20

Nick_d_123 Speedhunters all I'm saying is evo need a big overhaul to be the top dog again, I'd just love to see that. They're amazing

21

Speedhunters  GTR evo

22
90nissanS13@my350z

Great, the Evo will end up with a CVT.

23

Toyota & Subaru VERSUS Nissan & Mitsubishi.
I can hear various Street Fighter theme songs playing already.
Ah the possibilities. I can dream haha
Can't not get excited! lol

24
zadomtomzivkovic4

good news

25
zadomtomzivkovic4

they might even change plans on evolutions and keep building evo 11

26
FuelEconomyKilledTheCarsWeLove!

imsqeno Speedhunters ummm mitsi have stopped making the evo, soooo they wont be updating it.....ummmmm, are you even old enough to drive?

27

This annoys me that only handful of car makers have to bleed in the developments in this emission scandal. I strongly believe that all of the car makers cheat or use some kind of reduction system for emissions. For example VW or Mitsubishi are no worse than ford or bmw. But somehow others can get away with bigger engines, bigger power figures and the ones to get hooked are those who may be building the least powerful cars ? (Dont get me wrong, it`s a horrible thing to cheat with emissions. People die of pollution and it ruins the earth, but it`s like piracy. You try to cut head off of one beast, two grow in it`s place. Emission will never be completely controlled for car makers, not talking about car tuner world)

VW seems weird altogether. They try to cut in on action in USA where Ford already has an upperhand, and suddenly such system is found in VW`s system ? Seems a bit fishy.

You dont have to be an engineer or specialist in vehicles to understand that systems like these have been around for years and everyone uses it. It either was a horrible inconvenience for VW to get hooked or someone (maybe even ford) got scared for their part of the market so they squealed.

It makes me sad as a car enthusiast and also in a professional sense. 

As for mitsubishi. I suppose it`s better his way. I think we can expect pretty interesting stuff to come out of this.

28

@Tom They have bought enough to be the controlling share holder. Nissan released a statement to say that their short term targets or sharing of technology between the two companies (they're likely interested in their EV stuff, and Mitsu are likely interested in Nissans small turbo petrols). Nissan will also be 'sharing management experience to help Mitsu', in other words a bunch of Nissan suits are heading over their to get Mitsu house in order.

29

TarmacTerrorist I agree that it's potentially a bad thing. But honestly so far I think Renault have done a good job of keeping Reno, Nissan, Infiniti as fairly unique brands with their own identity. Most people outside of our little circle would never know they're related. Unlike VW/SEAT/Audi who all churn out the same hatches and saloons on near identical platforms with only minor styling tweaks between them.

30

Given Mitsi already using Renault diesel engines, and the heavy Renault-Nissan link, and now this you have to wonder if this was a pre-existing idea. And then if you're paranoid like me you can't help but wonder why it suddenly came out about Mitsubishi's figure-fiddling and they immediately capitalised on the inevitable price drop... car world illuminati haha :D

31

That means we gonna hv an EVO with GTR engine.

32

DinoCBurns If you'd care to read the second paragraph you'll see this: "Nissan clearly values Mitsubishi’s EV and small car capabilities, so those areas are likely where the crossovers will occur. But given the recent track record of both companies, it’s probably not a good idea to get your hopes up about the return of the Evo using GT-R technology."

33
awesomefearwave

i honestly might give this partnership a try. Who knows, they might come up with some pretty interesting stuff. i mean look at toyota, who has partnerships with subaru. they have the gt86/brz, which is a cool little car. maybe this ownership is what mitsubishi needs to make cool, fun cars again.

34
EythanAldrich

Slappy_Pistons My idea just popped....Starion/iDX? but different design unlike the 86/BRZ

35

Mitsubishi's two best cars were the 3000GT VR-4 and the Evo. When the company made the decision to stop building these cars, it was essentially committing suicide.

My brother had a '92 3000GT VR-4 up until about three years ago, and while that thing was an absolute unholy bitch to work on - transfer case fluid replacement, new vacuum lines, new steering rack, new oil pan gasket with the engine still in the car - it was something ASPIRATIONAL. 

It was low. It was sleek. It was sexy. It was fast. It was difficult to get in and out of. It wasn't particularly practical. It was everything a car should be. It was a car you owned because YOU WANTED IT, not because it was a practical way to cart your kids, dog and groceries around in. That's why we loved it.


I hope that this acquisition by Nissan produces a new VR-4 AND an EVO, because what's needed is a car - or two - that people can lust after.

36

inspector_exacto That sounds intriguing, never really been a fan of Lancer Evo's anyway, and this would be far more appealing and accessible to the regular punter too. Would have to be called Starion though! : )

37

Ice Age I totally agree & back you up on your comments - well written

38

ChrisKutcher I never comment on Speedhunters articles but this post is so misinformed I need to say something.  

All car companies optimize cars for emissions tests, this is not a secret.  It is why you will very rarely see the figures on your monroney label while real world driving.  BUT Volkswagen was cheating in a totally different manner.
VW actively changed their engine SW when it detected it was being tested.  This is NOT optimization, this is purely lying.  When the news of this came out, engineers all over the automotive world were SHOCKED.  I had many conversations with colleagues amounting to "How did they think they would get away with this?" "What did they think they would gain from this?" etc.  

If you research the story, no OEMs "squealed".  A group of researches at WVU of all places decided to do a real world emissions test on a TDi they happened to have on campus.  The results that they saw were significantly beyond what should have been measured, so after exhaustively testing to make sure their equipment wasn't wrong, they reported their findings to the EPA.  This was not a story of companies tattling on each other because they're scared of losing a market segment, and even if it was this would be a totally irrelevant segment to do it on.  The US small diesel market is completely insignificant in the world car market.  

To reitterate, not everyone does this.  No one outside of VW (to my knowledge obviously) uses anything even remotely approaching what they did.  This was completely unprecedented. You can absolutely test tail pipe emissions of any other vehicle and expect findings in line with what the EPA reports.

39

Hopefully somewhere in this venture they'll find a way to do what Subaru/Toyota did with the FR-S and revive the plans for the IDX.

Atleast I can dream, right?

40

QEPD Mitsu (First Mitsu killed the Colt/Mirage with the actual clown.... later Mitsu killed the Evo.... and now, Mistsu si death) :(

41

QEPD=RIP

42

Ice Age Totally agree with you!
Don´t forget the Eclipse, and other oldies like Colt Cyborg (The old generations of them)

43

@Pab Ice Age Wow, my brain was really engaged when I wrote that, huh?

44

mikum Ice Age Thanks.

45

Looking at these comments I think we have some really young readers.

My prediction, more like the article, Mitsu will be used for tiny ecnoboxes not sports cars.

If you were around in the 90s you would have seen a gradual decline in Japanese sports cars or even sporty cars to where we are today. Its why 75% of the articles on this site that feature Japanese cars that are from the 90s.

46

Chris Nuggets This is just big business as usual. Probably saved Nissan a few billion.
It's kinda funny....I believe it was here in the comments when you guys wrote the article about Mitsu last week, I stated, "Mitsubishi will be just fine, but I can see them selling off their passenger car division."

Boom, headshot.

47

Smiggins It's kinda sad that it turned out that way, that old cars are much more desirable than the new ones. I was pretty happy with the release of the 86 as i thought that Japanese manufacturers we're actually getting back at it making sportier models.

But with environmental standards getting higher and the quest for smaller and more efficient engines becoming a bigger norm we have to accept the fact that sporty two doors whose sole purpose is just having fun will not be a norm in the coming years. it would be nice to see each manufacturer making at least one model (Nissan with the Silvia/Fairlady series, Mitsu with the FTO/Eclipse, Honda with the Civic two door and etc.,) to cater the sporty side of things, So people could have an alternative rather than just the 86 (outside the US too)

48

Mitsubishi stopped producing performance cars so this might be a restart.

49
Vittorio Jano

ChrisKutcher "I strongly believe.." and you have no evidence to back up your strong beliefs. It's all about the money. VW wanted to save money and instead of using DEF they decided to cheat. That's all. There is no reason to believe that any of the diesel engine manufacturers using DEF to reduce NOx-emissions would have cheated.

50
MariousTabejen

4B11 thy Sentras/Sunny.

51
Nickay Kitsune

Mitsubishi will soon start making Pachinko machines at this rate

52
MariousTabejen

If this so happens, please make some amazing kei cars to be sold globally even to Mars. Not electric but pure combustible petrol engine. Keep me goin !

53

Even if they would go bankrupt I wouldn't care. I liked only 2 cars they made, Eclipse and Evo. First one became ugly, slow, heavy FWD car after second gen and was killed of in 2012. And Evo is gone too.

54
Alex M Phoenix

Smiggins I hope Mitsubishi at least makes a sports car or two with the help of Nissan, even though the chances at the moment are slim... I noticed the lack of sports cars after the early 2000s (kid at the time), but its good to hear Japanese manufacturers making a come back these days. 
Toyota creating the Sfr concept and reviving the Supra, Mazda's RX-Vision a preview of what the RX-7 will be, Acura with their expensive NSX, now I'm hoping Honda and Nissan bring back successors or revivals to the s2000, Rsx, Silvia, 240sx, and 300zx.

55
Nameisnotimportant

Nissan should stop buying crap online and just bring back what is important... Mitsubishi is crap don't get me wrong I used to really love their cars. But as of late they dropping the evo? I can see why they gone bust.. The cars they make now are slow ugly weirdly shaped things. Their crossovers have a huge chin looking like there is a tumour. Nissan on the other hand they should really consider the concept cars they decide to drop. Stop building cars for the old genaration build them for the new stirr their soul get them excited.

56

A Pajero and Patrol hybrid please

57

GTR + Evolution = Revolution

58

Return of the evo would be amazing, there is nothing else I'm the world like a evo.

59

Been looking at the new Mitsubishi Montero PHEV today and it's awesome, also pretty cheap, I hope they keep with their idea of hybrid technology, and make a new Evo with a hybrid system like the BMW i8

60

I don't believe that killing the Evo, or any of the other performance variants was the nail in Mitsubishi's coffin.  Proportionally in terms of sales, they were a small part of the overall operation.

For us petrolheads, yes it hurt. But it's a numbers game.

Reflect on the other models in Mitsi's range - more the point the length of time they stayed in production, and the resulting horrendous depreciation if you bought one.

For example, in Australasia the L300 van ran in the same guise from 1989 through to 2012 (or thereabouts). Unchanged other than a facelift.  
The Diamante was the same from 1997 to 2006/2007.
The Pajero has been the same since 1998 to today.

I'm sure there are plenty more in the USA, Europe and Japanese market also.

The new models also got cheaper as the years went on, so if you bought a 'first gen', it was worth very little after 3 years. 

Heck I bought a Diamante direct from Japan at 4 years old for $4500, sub 100km's and grade 4. That was a car that started out $40k +

Add that to Mitsi pulling stunts like '10 year servicing' etc, boring product lineup and it's no wonder that dealers started to look elsewhere.

How will Nissan help this? Only time will tell. There's more to the purchase then the end product that we see on the roads. 
EV technology for example.

61
B to the Ruce

Nissan controlling Mitsubishi + Renault controlling Nissan = Nissan and Mitsubishi both releasing cars that look like Busted Crabs, Dropped Pies, a bag full of ripped A**holes, get the idea?

62

Nice, now I can't stop laughing!

63

well that's a far better pairing than Chrysler and Fiat

64

Infinti Evolution... that is all...

65

Smiggins Agreed. It's funny, because the late 80s through the late 90s, was Japan's "muscle car" era. I was fortunate enough to be there during that tine, and frankly it was a perfect synergy of car mania and lax public attitude (and credit) when it came to young people enjoying cars, performance, street racing, and modding. It will never be seen again... in Japan at least.

66

RWD IDX Evo 10 engine.

67

It wouldn't be so bad if Ghosn kindly fucked off and gave Nissan back to the Japanese.

68
zadomtomzivkovic4

IRONWOLF RD i understand what youre saying, but..... Ghosn is the one that backed the new GTR and built it and now three big companies are getting together.nissan renault and mitsubishi heavy industries and thatll be quite some company to be reckoned with

69

Where I live for every Evo they sell 1000 Outlander PHEV. They sell like hot cakes ...and I am sorry, but yes Mitsubishi can survive without the Evo.

Perhaps they should develop an Evo for rally raid.

70

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YES Mitsubishi shall rise again. anyway Mitsubishi motors is like 6.4 to 6.5 Billion US dollars ^ ^

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