Hansen
The Final Edition Lancer Evolution is the swan song of the fan favorite and long running Mitsubishi EVO. The all wheel drive and four cylinder turbo’d car was a force to be reckoned with one ultimate flaw: It was made by Mitsubishi, a dying automotive brand, for the United States anyway. The uninspired and unrefreshed product lines within Mitsubishi’s offering contributed to its sales decline, and the scandals about fuel efficiency has not helped the Japanese company get back to its feet. Until today.
Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s CEO, has just announced that Nissan and Renault will announce a “Massive” deal where they plan on buying a 34% stake of Mitsubishi by the end of the year. According to Automotive News, Ghosn is confident that the legal and government authorities will approve the $2.2 billion sale.
“This is not a deal where we say, ‘OK, we made the deal, now let’s think what we can do together,” he told reporters. “No. The day we announce the deal, we’re going to tell you exactly what we’re going to do together. And it’s massive. It’s massive between Mitsubishi and Nissan. And also, it may be very significant between Renault and Mitsubishi.”
He said that plans have not been worked out specifically for how the three automakers will work together in the U.S. But he said the potential is great.
“We will have to dig more in the U.S.,” he said. “But when you talk about purchasing, engineering, platforms, engines, plug-in hybrids — it’s massive.”
The collaboration plans will certainly alter the U.S. automotive landscape as the three big brands will be able to take advantage of each other’s designs and manufacturing assets, and dare we say it… synergistically work together to build something greater than the alliance can achieve separately.
We don’t care so much about what the acquisition will do with respect to Mitsubishi’s ability to compete in the United States as we do about the return of the Lancer Evolution. If this merger will do just that, then we are ALL for it!
(Source: Automotive News)
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