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Friday, May 20, 2005

Enough GM Bashing, Mitsubishi's Eclipse Sunset

There are pundits who are harping on about GM's decline, some as bold as to declare a GM "death watch". And, they may be right, GM may be doomed--but it won't happen quickly, and it won't happen the way people expect. GM could very well come out of a bankruptcy swinging for the fences, or merge with another company.

There are, however, a few automakers who are worthy of being on a death-watch. The best example I have read of lately is Mitsubishi, who just came out with the new Eclipse. The car looks like the next generation of the Ford Cougar, weighs 3500lbs, is front-wheel-drive, and will cost $24,000 for a V6 manual version. That's Mustang V8 territory. The readers of Autoweek have just about voted the Eclipse off of the island. (HT: Autoblog)

I would say that Mitsubishi is in real danger of leaving the U.S. market, if the Eclipse flops the way it sounds like it will. The Eclipse may be Mitusbishi's sunset.

Other, non-GM nameplates that are at risk: Maybach, Smart*, VW, Jaguar, Suzuki.

*Smart may die before even making it to the U.S. market.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice work lately, btw.

Anyway, I cannot believe that Mitsu even bothered with the eclipse. Who cares how much hp it has, it's bloated and fwd.

GM's demise is overblown. It's pure sensationalism for the most part, sensationalism fueled by anti-GM sentiment.

Brian Vermette said...

First off, I don't think that GM will died, its still selling vehicles and some of them I would buy if I was in the market for a new car. GM will come out of this and GM should combine brands and create a the GM brand.

Second off, the Mitsubishi will sell lots of eclipses at a starting price of $19,399 and the evo too. And the Smart cars are interesting, but I don't know if they will sell lots of them, I personal the two seater from Londen. What's Next?

Anonymous said...

I still don't understand all the jumping on the eclipse before it has been driven as I said over on Autoblog.

Almost every review I have seen, Autoweek, Edmunds, MPH has been generally very positive. Plus this might turn on tuners looking for a radical look. Who knows. It went on sale today. Let's see what the numbers are in july.

Oh and I drove the Eclipse GT on a track and regular streets and thought it was the best sports coupe I've been in for some time. I remember my 170 hp Ford Probe GT being $21+K back in 1995. (i leased) Ten years later this Eclipse seems like quite an improvement.

Oh and I think many people (not me) don't like Mustangs, want something sporty and different. And lots! of general car buyers will choose FWD over RWD any day of the week.

Anonymous said...

When the Lancer came out they had a chance to offer it with the Direct Injection Gas Engine/Constant Variable Transmission/and AWD, like the one in Japan but, they didn't. Even the one in Japan offered fog lamps. This Eclipse at least needs an AWD option. Price isn't the only thing that matters. Let's get the power to the road.

Anonymous said...

It's a automotive journalists' tradition to predict the death of American auto-industry every 10 years or so.

Anonymous said...

uhm. VW?