Swearingen Swears It's So

Don Swearingen, Executive Vice President of beleaguered Mitsubishi Motors North America had this to say in a recent interview.

"Clearly it (the Mitsubishi Mirage) is in a segment that a lot of companies have left behind because a lot just can't give the features that these customers are looking for in a vehicle at that price range."

REV: That's because there's no money to be made in the city car class. Your best seller is a minimal profit, zero presence product..."Nice sixth-gen Mirage!" said nobody, ever.

Don Swearingen

"Well, we are more of a niche player. Clearly (that word again) we have to be very strategic about what we bring to the U.S. I can't afford to have a car fail."

REV: That's right and that's smartest thing you could be thinking at the moment. The problem is, unlike car companies that sell niche products with a clear marketing message that appeal to a wide variety of buyers like Subaru, you've got nothing. Your company seems embarrassed or in the very least forgetful of the Evo magic and that, in our book, is a huge mistake. You need halo, you need a lot of halo and you need it right quick. You don't have any money-making, mainstream cars in your dealers; darn straight you can't afford a car to fail.

The current U.S. lineup

"We're seeing the greatest success in CUV. When we decided to move most of our focus about three years ago to CUV, it was before the transition really happened. Number one markets were sedans. Now that the CUV has moved to the largest segment, I think the dealers are seeing that our company had the vision."

REV: This doesn't ring true at all with us. You didn't have a product to sell other than the Outlander, so how is that a vision? Also, it looks like you're following Toyota's lead, who predict the RAV4 will surpass the Camry in sales soon. That's not what we call visionary in the slightest.

"What you're going to see out of Mitsubishi in the future is that we understand we only play in a few segments, but whatever segments we're going to play in, we're going to be there."

REV: Will you hang your hat at home? Come on...really? That's not an answer, nor is it a business strategy. Swearingen goes on to mention that they'd like to bring a light truck, especially the Minicab variants, to the U.S. but they can't get past the chicken tax. That's a bummer for those of us that would like to see the compact truck return.

P.S. That Evo pictured above is a 2015 model; can't buy a 2016 here. So you'll have to choose from one of five Mitsubishi models if you want to buy a brand new one. And if you want to get really picky, the Outlander and Outlander Sport are basically the same car, just with different interior volumes and they both share a platform with the Lancer.

We'd like to see Mitsubishi survive these troubled times. We really would. But things aren't looking too good.