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Mitsubishi looks to crossovers and EVs for US success

Say what you will about Mitsubishi, but the Japanese automaker is slowly seeing a resurgence here in the United States. December 2015 marked the company's twenty-second consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases, and looking at last year as a whole, Mitsubishi's sales were up 23 percent over 2014. Ken Konieczka, Mitsubishi's vice president of sales operations, says that in order to stay successful, the company will bet big on crossovers and electric vehicles in the coming years. And that means a relatively aggressive product plan here in the US. First up, a brand-new CUV will launch in early 2018, previewed by the eX Concept that debuted at last year's Tokyo Motor Show (pictured). Konieczka says Mitsubishi is making room for this new crossover in its lineup – the Outlander will slowly get bigger, and the Outlander Sport will get smaller. The production version of the eX will slot between those two. Speaking of the Outlander siblings, both will be replaced in the next five years. A new, larger Outlander will arrive in 2019, and the smaller Outlander Sport will arrive in 2020. To fulfill the electric side of the business, Konieczka confirms the next Outlander Sport will sprout an EV variant, and the Outlander plug-in hybrid will launch in the United States later in 2016, as a 2017 model. As for the rest of the company's portfolio, Mitsubishi will offer the updated Mirage hatchback and new G4 sedan later this year. The future for the Lancer, however, looks grim. Konieczka says Mitsubishi still can't find an OEM partner to help create and produce a new Lancer, and our gut says the compact sedan will be phased out in the very near future. "We made a lot of mistakes," Konieczka admits, saying Mitsubishi was "spread too thin [and] had too many models" in the past. This new, more focused approach on EVs and crossovers certainly sounds promising, and will hopefully help Mitsubishi continue its slow growth here in the US market. Still, we won't know for sure until the new products actually reach showrooms. But for now, at least, things are steadily on the rise.

Watch Mitsubishi break the EV record at Pikes Peak

Take a listen folks - you're hearing the eventual future of motorsports. This is Greg Tracy and the Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution III as they assault the treacherous course at Pikes Peak in just 9:08.188.
This run is significant for a number of reasons. As we recapped in our Pikes Peak finale post, Tracy's run was a mere two seconds off the best overall time at this year's event, snagging him and Mitsubishi second place overall, as well as first in the Electric Modified class and the fourth fastest time ever recorded. Perhaps more importantly, though, Tracy thoroughly trounced the previous EV record at Pikes Peak, beating the legendary Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima's 2013 best of 9:46.530.
It's an impressive feat, and now you can experience the whole run from as near a first-person viewpoint as you're going to get. Scroll down and have a look.

Japan minister launches counterattack after Ghosn blasts justice system

TOKYO — Japan's justice minister launched a rare and forceful public takedown of auto executive-turned-fugitive Carlos Ghosn after he blasted the country's legal system as allowing him "zero chance" of a fair trial as he sought to justify his escape to Beirut. After his dramatic flight to Lebanon last month, Ghosn spoke in public for the first time on Wednesday, saying he had been treated "brutally" by Tokyo prosecutors. He said they questioned him for up to eight hours a day without a lawyer present and tried to extract a confession out of him. In an effort to undo Ghosn's attempt to sway public opinion in his favor, Justice Minister Masako Mori followed shortly with a statement, translated into English and French, and held a news conference after midnight and again around 9:30 a.m. on Thursday morning to defend Japan's justice system. "I decided to do this because defendant Ghosn was looking to justify his unlawful exit from Japan by propagating a false recognition of our justice system," she said at the second news conference. "I felt that we needed to respond immediately to broadcast a correct understanding to people around the world." Ghosn, the former chief of Nissan and Renault, fled Japan last month as he was awaiting trial on charges of under-reporting earnings, breach of trust, and misappropriation of company funds, all of which he denies. Mori said Ghosn's escape from his trial in itself "could constitute a crime" that would not be tolerated in any country. "My impression in listening to him was that there were few statements that were backed by any real evidence," she said. "If he wants to prove his innocence, he should face fair trial proceedings here," she added, stressing that the allegations against him concerned financial crimes in Japan. "That would be the mark of a first-class businessperson and good citizen." Mori blasted Ghosn for violating his bail by fleeing the country "without showing a passport and breaking international rules that everyone in the world follows." "It was a breach of faith that can't be explained to our children," she said. The spotlight on Japan's justice system comes as Mori is set to host in April the United Nations' Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, held once every five years.