2000 Mitsubishi Galant Es Sedan 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV selling well in Netherlands

Talk about a Dutch treat. Mitsubishi says sales of its Outlander Plug-in Hybrid are brisk in Europe, helped in a big way by plug-in vehicle tax incentives in the Netherlands that are getting more people there to buy the world's first production plug-in hybrid CUV. The Japanese automaker has taken more than 12,000 orders for the model from Europeans and had delivered about 8,200 of them as of the end of last year, all but 200 of which were to the Netherlands. Mitsubishi will start broader sales throughout the continent this year and is also expected to start sales in the US by next year. The company is looking for plug-ins to account for 20 percent of its global sales by the end of the decade. Mitsubishi, which also sells the model in Norway, Sweden and Switzerland, hopes to reach an annual production rate of 50,000 Outlander PHEVs by the end of the year. Last August, the company resumed full-scale battery production after shutting things down for a few months for a safety probe stemming from a short-circuiting issue. The Outlander PHEV can run for 32 miles on electric power alone and gets a European-rated 124 miles per gallon. Check out Mitsubishi's press release on its Euro sales below. MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV CY13 SALES – EUROPEAN INAUGURATION With a plan for EVs and EV-derived PHEVs to represent 20% of its global sales by 2020, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has set itself an ambitious, yet realistic target. More so in Europe, Mitsubishi Motors' largest market for these technologies. 12,000+ orders / 8,000+ deliveries In this respect, the successful sales launch of Outlander PHEV in Europe – MMC's first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and forerunner of a wider PHEV range – tends to vindicate the Corporation's objectives. First launched in selected markets (The Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland) from October 2013,Outlander PHEV has collected over 12,000 orders in Europe and these have already translated into 8,197 deliveries to end-customers by the end of December, of which 8,009 units for The Netherlands, the latter boosted by a tax scheme favourable to eco-friendly technologies such as low-emission vehicles. With more cars currently on their way to Europe, Mitsubishi Motor Sales Netherlands will soon be able to deliver the 11,000+ orders currently in its books and growing.

What $40k worth of lights and chrome does to a JDM truck

Japan's dekotora truck culture allows big rig drivers to express themselves by decking out their vehicles with a plethora of blinking lights and shining chrome. While we occasionally catch glimpses of this automotive lifestyle in the US, this short documentary called Dekotora, Another Roadside Attraction takes viewers inside the dekotora truck scene with someone who actually drives one everyday. Takuya Sosogi carries fresh vegetables between markets and claims he has covered the over 2 million kilometers (1.2 million miles) in his dekotora. He also has spent around 5 million yen ($46,200 at current rates) to make his Mitsubishi Fuso light up the night. At this point the truck has become among the most important parts of his life. Sosogi believes that taking good care of his rig is akin to looking after himself. Despite the blinking lights and polished metal, Sosogi's truck is almost subdued by dekotora standards. Some of the rigs feature lighting rigs that rise high into the sky and sport crazy body modifications. Watch the entire documentary above for a look into this fascinating Japanese automotive subculture. Related Video:

Mitsubishi pondering $2B share sale?

Mitsubishi makes the brilliantly fast, wonderfully fun Lancer Evolution. Outside of that road-going rally car, the rest of the range is pretty poor - the new Outlander isn't bad, but the subcompact Mirage looks like might've been competitive five years ago, while the Galant and Lancer have suffered from serial neglect.
This hasn't just lead to rumors of Mitsu's death in America; the subsidiary of the massive Mitsubishi Group has been in trouble at home, too. It was bailed out by three other Mitsubishi Group companies - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation - between 2004 and 2005, according to Bloomberg. Now, it's attempting to extricate itself from "emergency mode," as analyst Koichi Sugimoto told the financial site, adding that "they're still in the very early stages of recovery."
As part of the bailout, Mitsubishi issued its three saviors billions of dollars of preferred shares, which don't have voting rights. The problem is, Mitsubishi hasn't issued dividend payments since 1998, and these stocks aren't exactly competing with Apple or Google, in terms of value. In other words, they're mostly worthless. With a public offering, Mitsubishi is expecting to raise 200 billion yen, or about $2 billion, in order to reduce the number of preferred shares. If all goes according to plan, it will wipe out preferred shares by March of 2014, or the end of fiscal year 2013.