Mitsubishi Motors North America continues its U.S. comeback, with sales approaching 100,000 units for the year, a big improvement from a deep decline in the decade from the early 2000s to the early 2010s.
Through 11 months, Mitsubishi sales in the United States were 87,455, up 23 percent from the same time a year ago. For the entire market, U.S. auto sales were up just 5.4 percent, to 15.8 million, according to the Automotive News Data Center.
Mitsubishi’s U.S. sales arm said this week that as of Dec. 26 it had passed 5 million sales in the United States, dating back to when the brand first went on sale here in 1982.
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| 2015 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Final Edition; company photo |
That grand total represents an average of more than 150,000 per year, a pace Mitsubishi hasn't seen for a while. Mitsubishi sales were already falling when the former DaimlerChrysler – which itself would split up in 2007 – dropped its controlling interest in Mitsubishi in April 2004.
In 2002, Mitsubishi’s U.S. sales were 345,111, according to Automotive News, but fell to 256,9810 in 2003, and 161,609 in 2004. In 2012, U.S. sales were down 26.9 percent, to 57,790.
Today, however, Mitsubishi said it recently racked up its 21st consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases. Its two crossover sport-utility models, the Mitsubishi Outlander, which got an updated version launched in August of this year, and the Outlander Sport, account for the lion’s share of U.S. sales.
In October, Mitsubishi Motors North America also confirmed it would phase out the latest generation of its sportiest car, the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, with a so-called “Final Edition,” which gets extra power and torque, at 303 hp and 305 ft.-lbs. of torque.
The Lancer Evolution has a certain extra attraction for performance fans, because it hasn't always been available in the United States. In 10 product generations only three were sold in the U.S. market in the last 12 years, the company said.
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