2010 Mitsubishi Endeavor Se on 2040-cars

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Ghosn: Restoring Mitsubishi's reputation is biggest challenge

After news that Mitsubishi falsified its fuel economy data on every vehicle it has sold in Japan since 1991, and the tumble in the company's value that followed, the troubled carmaker has an unlikely savior. Nissan has confirmed it will purchase over one third of Mitsubishi's stock, or 34 percent. The stake is valued at $2.2 billion. Ghosn says making Mitsubishi a part of the Renault-Nissan alliance will save billions in development costs. But the merger certainly isn't without challenges. "The biggest challenge is to support Mitsubishi changing itself and growing and being profitable and restoring its reputation," said Ghosn. Nissan is a natural partner for Mitsubishi, and since the fuel economy scandal escalated from discrepancies in the data regarding Mitsubishi-manufactured, Nissan-badged Japan-market vehicles, it makes sense for the company to sweep in and save the day. Nissan itself is partially owned by Renault, and Nissan has a 15-percent stake in the French automaker. Mitsubishi's chairman, Osamu Masuko says that the merger was inevitable, that it "would have happened one day" anyway, according to the New York Times. Carlos Ghosn, chairman of both Nissan and Renault, is confident they will be able to turn Mitsubishi's fortunes around. "We have the track record to make it work", Ghosn said, referring to the Renault-funded rescue of Nissan in the early 2000s. Related Video:

Mitsubishi i-MiEV rallies in WAVE 2014 as support vehicle

Hey, we found somebody willing to drive a new Mitsubishi i-MiEV over 1,000 miles. The little-bitty four-seat electric vehicle will be used on the other side of the Pond as a support vehicle in the World Advanced Vehicle Expedition (WAVE) road rally through the Swiss Alps this spring. Brian Orr from EV Matters Ltd. made the purchase, as he'll be providing the support vehicle for Green MotorSport Ltd.'s hand-built utility concept vehicle that's being built with an eye on deploying it in developing countries, the Auto Channel says. Another i-MiEV will be an official, 900 kilogram-plus entrant in the rally, which begins May 31 in Sindelfingen, Germany and finishes a week later in Rigi, Switzerland, with 20 towns or so in between. As many as 70 teams will be joining the party which, in 2013, set a world record for electric-vehicle parades by sending 305 of them very quietly through Zurich. Despite a tiny price tag, i-MiEV sales in the US (where it's simply known as the i) have come to a near halt as Mitsubishi gets ready to shift its plug-in focus to PHEVs. While US i sales jumped 75 percent last year to 1,029 units, the Japanese automaker has moved just four units (!) domestically during the first two months of 2014.

2017 Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV will debut in New York

Mitsubishi is betting big on crossovers and EVs, and some promising stuff is in store for the end of this decade. But in the very near future, the first product in Mitsubishi's EV/CUV strategy will launch in the US: the 2017 Outlander PHEV will finally bow at the New York Auto Show in March. I say "finally" because Mitsubishi already offers a plug-in Outlander in other markets, and overseas the PHEV crossover is off to a great start. Mitsubishi is seeing "great success in Europe," according to Ken Konieczka, the company's VP of sales operations. And when the Outlander PHEV launches in the US later this year, Konieczka thinks it'll attract a lot of new buyers to the Mitsubishi brand. I got to see the 2017 Outlander PHEV at a small event in Detroit on Thursday. It's the only one in the country, and still has to undergo some more testing and development before the CUV ready for the spotlight. Perhaps that's why Mitsubishi parked it in a dark corner of Detroit's Garden Theater. Compared to the regular Outlander you see pictured here, the PHEV doesn't look all that different save some badges on the tailgate and front fenders and, of course, the charging port. But that's not all Mitsubishi has in store for New York. The Mirage G4 sedan will also bow at that show, after its Canadian introduction at the Toronto Auto Show in February. Like the Outlander PHEV, the Mirage G4 already exists in other markets, and Mitsubishi says it has the largest interior volume of any sedan in its class. More information about both models – including pricing and specifications – will be available when both cars hit the Javits Center stage in March.