It’s no secret that Mitsubishi was in trouble with their overstating of fuel mileage just a couple years ago. With a swoop of some money and a change of plans, the Nissan team was able to come in and grab a share of Mitsubishi and begin to aid the company toward moving forward rather than backward. You might wonder why Nissan bothered to partner with a rival brand and what would make them take the steps necessary to help save a company that could have been pushed out the automotive industry for good.
An New Global Force Made by this Alliance
The combination of Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, and Renault creates a new force in global car making to offer some interesting and unique ways to handle the drive needed. This new alliance was announced in October of 2016. This grouping allows for shared information regarding the scale, technology, and the benefits of manufacturing vehicles together. Overall, it seems more like a no-brainer when it comes to the benefits of these three companies sharing together to build the models of the future of each one of the brands. With this idea in place, Nissan purchased a 34 percent equity stake in Mitsubishi, which made Nissan the largest shareholder of Mitsubishi Motors.
The Road Was Never Meant to be Easy
Mitsubishi has the responsibility and challenge in front of it to regain the trust and confidence of customers. This is proving to be a bit of a difficult task so far, and in the US, the brand is down to a sparse lineup of a subcompact hatchback, a sedan, and three crossovers. There are massive holes in the range with no midsize sedan, no pickup truck, and nothing that’s sport on the market any longer for us to admire and drive.
Sales are Sparse but Growing
If you were to be told you could sell 118,074 models and that would represent a growth of 14 percent, you might be extremely excited, but that number is actually pretty small for a brand that was once a volume sales brand. While the 14 percent increase is impressive, Nissan sold nearly 3.5 times the total of all Mitsubishi models sold in just the Rogue. This should give you an idea of how much the three-diamond brand does need to try and grow over the next couple of years to make this new investment by Nissan make sense.
The Impact of Innovation
Even though sales have been slow in America, the benefits of a partnership that bring Nissan, Mitsubishi, and Renault together allow for the greatest development benefit. The influence of the Japanese and French designs and drive personalities makes it possible for the right vehicles to be built and offered with the features that make the most sense. This cooperation should give us more models that we desire as it grows and is used to create the vehicles that have the driving and design aspects we admire and want to enjoy.
Now it Makes Sense
Forgetting the North American lack of performance by Mitsubishi, this brand does well in other markets of the world. The global sales of Mitsubishi are strong and easy to see in nearly every market except in North America. This brand also offers some of the most advanced hybrid technology and a variety of ways to add more to a vehicle without increasing the price to an unrealistic level. This makes for the perfect partner for Nissan and is a strong reason why the brand decided to save Mitsubishi and help make sure it would survive into the future.
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