Mitsubishi shifting U S strategy 01/31/2011
Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi is reportedly shifting its marketing strategy in the United States as it prepares a new lineup of vehicles to be made available in the country, reports CNET.
Rather than focusing on regionally-oriented cars, Mitsubishi will develop global lines of vehicles, with an emphasis on small cars, hybrids and electrics.
As part of the marketing shift, the car company is set to phase out four U.S.-based models - the Galant, Endeavor, Eclipse and Eclipse Spyder - by 2014 and will bring four new cars to the market within the same timeframe.
"I think streamlining the model lineup as Mitsubishi attempts to regain some market share and tries to get some momentum going is probably a good thing," Ramsay Gillman, the owner of Mitsubishi dealerships in Houston and San Antonio, told the source. "Pretty much anything that Mitsubishi adds to our lineup that's new and fresh will give some boost to the dealers."
Mitsubishi reportedly sold 55,683 units in the U.S. in 2010, down from a peak of 345,111 in 2002. The number of dealerships has shrunk by more than a third as well, as the 637 stores in 2002 have been reduced to around 400 today.