Mitsubishi: A Finance Company That Happens To Sell Cars?

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

News of Mitsubishi’s rebadging of Renault-Samsung vehicles for the US market is being greeted with far less enthusiasm around these parts than one would expect the internet to greet news of any French vehicles coming to America. One angle that isn’t being explored much comes from commenter callisall, who writes

if anyone else was scratching your head (like I was) about how Mitsu makes money in the USA, Mitsu is the third largest seller of cars to subprime borrowers behind Chrysler and Dodge.

So by outsourcing its R&D and focusing on the subprime market (and perhaps parts for its cars), it looks like Mitsu can make its US operations worthwhile.

Industry observers know that R&D is the most expensive part of new vehicle development, and by rebadging Renault-Samsung vehicles as their own, Mitsubishi gets to skip out on this very expensive exercises while getting proven technology that’s already been on the market for a few years. Is it possible that other Mitsubishi-derived vehicles like the Outlander could become variants of some Renault-Nissan project? Perhaps.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Schmitt trigger Schmitt trigger on Nov 14, 2013

    Joe;yes indeed. Your ranking, and the ordering within the rank, is 100% spot on. In 40 years of driving, the worst reliability vehicle I've owned was a 1985 Mitsubishi Montero with the infamous 4 cylinder carbureted engine. The most reliable? A 1992 Toyota Tercel.

  • PrincipalDan PrincipalDan on Nov 14, 2013

    Without a V6 in the Galant you won't get a second look from me. If it suddenly became a re-badged Altima that would definitely be an improvement.

  • Pch101 Pch101 on Nov 14, 2013

    "if anyone else was scratching your head (like I was) about how Mitsu makes money in the USA..." Mitsubishi doesn't make money in the US. The company turns a profit in most of the world, but not here. Mitsubishi sells very few vehicles in the US, subprime or otherwise. It's not a finance company that sells cars, it's a car company that doesn't sell much of anything to American customers. It's a modestly profitable enterprise globally, but not here. The Renault rebadging program is a last ditch effort to save Mitsubishi's American operations. One of the challenges in serving the US market is that the types of cars that sell in high volumes in US tend to be unpopular in other markets. It doesn't pay for Mitsubishi to invest heavily in a car that wouldn't have many takers outside of the US. Mitsibishi stands no chance against the Accord, Camry, etc. -- it will have to settle for the scraps.

  • Dwford Dwford on Nov 14, 2013

    Selling random cars rebadged from other automakers worked so well for Suzuki....

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