1993 Mitsubishi 3000gt Vr-4 Coupe 2-door 3.0l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1999 Mitsubishi Galant GTZ-V6

The Mitsubishi Galant first appeared on American streets as the 1971 Dodge Colt and then a bit later with Dodge Challenger and Plymouth Sapporo badges. Mitsubishi Motors finally began selling Galants from its own U.S. showrooms for the 1985 model year, and Galant sales continued here through four more generations before getting the axe in 2012. We saw some interesting and/or quick Galants along the way, including the Sigma, VR-4, GS-X and Ralliart; today's Junkyard Gem is a rare example of the sporty eighth-generation Galant GTZ sedan, found in a North Carolina self-service wrecking yard recently. The final year for the hot-rod all-wheel-drive VR-4 and GS-X Galants in the United States was 1992. By 1998, there were just three levels of new Galant here, all with 141-horse four-cylinder engines driving the front wheels. Then the 1999 model year arrived, and so did the 6G72 V6 engine under Galant hoods. This SOHC (yet still 24-valve) engine was rated at 161 horsepower and 205 pound-feet. It was available in the U.S.-market ES-V6, GTZ-V6 and LS-V6 Galants for the '99. The GTZ was sporty-looking, but not as loaded with luxury features as the LS. 1999 was the first model year for the eighth-generation Galant in North America, and it had finally become big and powerful enough to be considered a genuine rival for the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord (both of which had been available with V6 power for quite a few years). The 1999 Galant got a grille that resembled the one on its upscale Diamante big brother, which had five years to live at the time. The MSRP for this car was $24,300, which comes to about $46,374 in 2024 dollars. The base 1999 Galant DE started at just $16,999, or $32,441 in today's money. Those prices were in the ballpark with the Galant's Camry and Accord rivals; the Camry LE V6 with automatic started at $22,748 ($43,412 now) with automatic transmission, while the Accord LX V6 with automatic was $21,700 ($41,412 today). Both those cars had a lot more power than the Mitsubishi, though: 194 horsepower for the Toyota and 200 for the Honda. The 1999 Galant sold in the United States was not available with a manual transmission, which made the El Cheapo DE trim level a steal compared to the cost of two-pedal base Accords and Camrys. The Galant DE even came with air conditioning at no extra cost. The factory wing on the GT-Z is serious. Collectible today? Hardly, but an interesting bit of automotive history. This content is hosted by a third party.

Toyota, Honda, Nissan and more collaborating to increase fuel efficiency

Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Daihatsu have announced an alliance that will see a push to improve fuel economy from both gas-powered and diesel-powered engines by as much as 30 percent before the end of the decade.
The newly assembled Research Association of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines put the roughly $20-million project together, with the Japanese government committing to half the cost while the eight manufacturers will chip in the rest.
According to Automotive News, the automakers will team up and share basic research on internal-combustion engines in a bid to cut costs. Eventually, the results of the research will find its way into a production vehicle, although it's unclear just when we'll see the fruits of this partnership on the road.

Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida rules out closer capital ties with Renault

YOKOHAMA — Nissan is committed to its automaking alliance with Renault but will not look to deepen its capital ties with the French automaker any time soon, its new CEO said on Monday. On his first day in the new position, chief executive Makoto Uchida also pledged to repair profitability at Japan's No. 2 automaker and said setting realistic targets would be key toward that goal, as it tries to make a clean break from the leadership of former chairman Carlos Ghosn. "Closer capital ties with Renault are not a focus in the short term," he told reporters. Uchida became CEO of Nissan on Dec. 1, as the car maker tries to recover from a profit slump and draw a line under a year of turmoil after the Ghosn scandal. The ousted chairman is fighting financial misconduct charges in Japan. One of the new CEO's big tasks is to salvage ties with Renault, which have deteriorated since Ghosn's ouster as chairman of both companies. Renault holds a 43.4% stake in Nissan after it saved the Japanese automaker from financial ruin two decades ago, and has pushed for the two companies to merge. In rejecting a notion of a merger with Renault, Uchida, 53, echoes his predecessor Hiroto Saikawa, who stepped down in September. He added that the alliance must re-think how it can serve all of its three members, which also includes Mitsubishi Motors. "The alliance has to benefit each of its partners in terms of revenue and profit," he said. "We need to re-evaluate what has worked and what hasn't worked in the alliance in the past few years." The CEO called for Nissan to set "challenging but achievable" targets, adding that this and the launch of more new car models and vehicle technologies would be key to its financial recovery. Nissan is bracing for its lowest annual profit in 11 years and has slashed its dividend by 65%. Its struggles come at a time when car companies desperately need scale to keep up with sweeping technological changes like electric vehicles and ride-hailing. "Somewhere along the way we created a culture of setting targets which could not be achieved," Uchida said, adding that this had resulted in a focus on short-term results. "Years of this had led Nissan to its current "difficult situation," he said, using heavy vehicle discounting in the U.S. market as an example of how aggressive sales targets to grow market share had deteriorated the company's brand.