Mitsubishi Motors history

The first year's allocation of 30,000 vehicles in 1982 were the $6,500 Tredia sedan, and the $7,000 Cordia and $12,000 Starion coupes, followed shortly by the Mighty Max pickup truck, and were sold through 70 dealers in 22 states.

1987: Mitsubishi introduces the Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 which is the first vehicle to feature an Active Electronically Controlled Suspension.

The company sold 67,000 cars in the United States in 1987, but by the time the new factory came onstream the next year, it offered a capacity of 240,000 vehicles.

1989: The Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 is named the Import "Car of the Year" by Motor Trend.

With this new capacity, Mitsubishi made a fresh push to expand its United States operation in 1989, increasing its sales network by 40 percent to 340 dealerships and producing its first nationwide advertising campaign.

Mitsubishi gained another outlet for its cars in 1991 with the acquisition of Value Rent-A-Car.

Mitsubishi and Volvo undertook a joint partnership with Volvo in 1991.

As all of the Japanese companies continued to lose market share in the United States in 1993, Mitsubishi attempted to gain a foothold in the family sedan market with the introduction of a newly redesigned Galant midsize sedan.

They also decreased their interest in Mitsubishi Motors to less than 3% and announced their plans to divest all remaining shares in 1993.

In 1994 the company sold 230,279 cars in that market and anticipated setting sales records well into the future.

Since the announcement to rebuild the Marunouchi Building in 1995, the vicinity of Tokyo Station has been subject to major redevelopment.

Toyota had released a redesigned Camry in 1996, supporting it with a $50 million television, magazine, outdoor, and direct-mail campaign, using the simple slogan "The New Camry.

1996: Mitsubishi leads the development of the world's first Gasoline Direct Injection engine.

The economic crisis in the region, which began in 1997, spelled big trouble for Mitsubishi.

The company reported the worst losses of its history in 1997 on plummeting sales.

Honda debuted a redesigned Accord in 1997 and inaugurated a campaign touting the car's new advances that same year.

But over the next two years Ford changed directions in its Taurus advertising, particularly in 1997 ads created by J. Walter Thompson USA, which used NASCAR themes to emphasize that the Taurus had recently entered the racing circuit.

Halliday, Jean. "Deutsch-Created Galant Ads Grab First-Time Buyers." Advertising Age, November 2, 1998.

1998: The Mitsubishi brand takes charge in the racing world when the Mitsubishi Montego dominates the Dakar Rally, and the Mitsubishi brand takes home wins in the FIA World Class Cup Cross-Country Rally and the WRC Manufacturer's Championship.

The famous icon facing Tokyo Station was demolished in 1999 as part of a massive redevelopment project for the district.

1999: Mitsubishi electric car is the first to cover 2,000 km in 24 hours.

2000: Mitsubishi forms partnership with DaimlerChrysler AG.

They later sold their stake to DaimlerChrysler in March 2001.

In 2001 the company again boosted spending, devoting a large portion of its budget to the United States launch of its Lancer compact car, which was then popular in Europe.

In 2002, a new Marunouchi Building was completed.

Mitsubishi admitted to using inaccurate test methods and giving the wrong information on fuel consumption from 2002 onwards.

In 2002 MMNA expanded to Canada and Puerto Rico.

Zaun, Todd. "Bad Loans Bump Mitsubishi Motors off Road to Recovery." Wall Street Journal, November 12, 2003.

Most notable was the decision to spin off Mitsubishi's truck and bus division to create a new company in 2003.

The All-Wheel-Control equipped Lancer Evolution arrives in the United States, and Automobile magazine promptly honors it as 2003 Automobile of the Year.

The company's United States credit operation was forced to make a $454 million provision against its 2003 accounts as a result of these losses.

Troubles began to emerge in 2003.

2007: Mitsubishi is the first to win seven straight Dakar rally races.

A new Lancer compact car debuted in 2007, and in an effort to exploit unused capacity at its Normal, Illinois, plant more Galant sedans were produced for the export market.

Redevelopment activities that began in 2008 focused on updating the overall functionality of the area as a whole to extend and enhance its neighborhood ambiance.

2008: Drive@Earth is announced as a pledge to create vehicles that are environmentally friendly.

After more than 40 years of development and many awards, the production version of the 2010 Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle (i-MiEV) is launched to multiple markets worldwide.

During the post-war period, lawsuits were presented against Mitsubishi, and in 2015 Mitsubishi formally apologised for their use of forced labour.Following the end of the war, Mitsubishi went back to making vehicles.

2015 was a record setting year for MMNA, selling their 5th million vehicle in the United States, continuing a streak of 22 consecutive months of year-over-year sales increases and a 23 percent sales increase over the previous year.

In 2016, Nissan, a partner of Mitsubishi, found discrepancies between information provided by Mitsubishi and actual fuel consumption.

An investigation by an independent company followed and the resulting scandal led to Nissan acquiring a controlling interest in MMC in 2016.

2016: Mitsubishi introduces the eX SUV Concept which the brand says will rival Tesla in terms of automated driving capability and long-range driving.

In the wake of the newly formed Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, Mitsubishi have undergone a brand relaunch, of which was launched at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2017.