1996 Mitsubishi Galant S Sedan 4-door 2.4l Not Running on 2040-cars

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Mitsubishi HQ raided by the Japanese government

Mitsubishi's fuel economy scandal continues to grow, and the Japanese government wants answers. According to Reuters, the Japanese Transport Ministry raided the company's headquarters and a factory in Nagoya today. This raid comes soon after the company revealed that a number of its SUVs were also being sold with incorrect fuel economy ratings. The Japanese government issued a stop-sale on those vehicles a few days ago. This raid also follows an internal investigation conducted by Mitsubishi to discover how this fuel economy scandal happened, and how the practices that led to it were able to continue for 25 years. The internal investigation revealed a few contributing factors that all fell under issues with the company's culture. There was significant pressure throughout the company to reach fuel economy targets and missing them wasn't readily accepted. Questioning decisions of management was also discouraged, and it seemed the different divisions of the company weren't working well together. The findings of this raid have yet to be revealed, but it will be interesting to see how they compare with those of the internal investigation. The Japanese Transport Ministry seems intent on preventing a repeat of this with another company considering that, according to Reuters, it "sent documents to other automakers to enforce compliance with rules for calculating mileage ." Related Video: News Source: Reuters via Automotive News EuropeImage Credit: Julien Amado / Autoblog Quebec Government/Legal Green Mitsubishi Fuel Efficiency investigation

Toyota, Mazda drop Takata as Mitsubishi, Subaru weigh options

It's not a very good time to be Takata right now. Fresh on the heels of longtime partner Honda ditching them, Toyota and Mazda have both come out and said they will not use the company's airbag inflators if they continue to rely on ammonium nitrate. Bloomberg reports that Subaru and Mitsubishi are also contemplating a divorce. "The inflator using ammonium nitrate produced by Takata will not be adopted by Toyota," President Akio Toyoda said during a briefing today. "What's most important above anything else is the safety and peace of mind of customers." Mazda echoed that position, simply saying it "will not use Takata airbag inflators which contain ammonium nitrate in our new cars." When you lose three huge OEM accounts in as many days, it's certainly going to have a deleterious effect on your fortunes. In Takata's case, that's meant a staggering 39-percent drop in their share price over the last three days. Yesterday alone, the company saw a 6.2-percent fall, Bloomberg reports. As the business publication reports, though, Takata isn't going down without a fight. The company is "considering some plans to survive," including a fundraising plan that will see it potentially offer up additional shares for sale. Still, at least one analyst doesn't see whatever company survives staying involved in the airbag inflator business. "I really don't see how they're going to be able to survive as an inflator manufacturer," Valient Market Research founder Scott Upham told Bloomberg. "When your major clients publicly come out and say that they're not going to use your products anymore, it makes this very difficult to sustain your business." News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Carlos Osorio / AP Honda Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Toyota Safety supplier

2013 Pikes Peak Hill Climb, Practice Day 3

The third practice day of the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb is done. While the other classes got running time on the middle and top sections of the course, qualifying times were set on the bottom section of the course for the Open, Open Wheel, Electric, Exhibition and Vintage classes.
Everyone managed to keep it on the black stuff today, Greg Tracy setting the fastest time ahead of Hiroshi Masuoka, both men driving the Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution II four-wheel-drive prototype. Not even half a second behind Masuoka came Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima in his Monster Sport E-Runner, who has taken about 18 seconds off his time since the first practice day. Rod Millen was the fourth fastest on the day in his Toyota TMG EV POO2.
Topping the Open Wheel class was Clint Vahsholtz, followed by Donner Billingsley, Andy Figueroa and Rodney O'Maley. The only driver in that class not to be given a time today was Dan Novembre. Kenshiro Gushi took the Exhibition class today as his Lexus IS F CCS-R made it up the mountain in 4:27.248, followed by Sage Marie in the Honda CR-Z at 5:19.591. Simon Pagenaud and his Honda Odyssey weren't classified.