Mitsubishi Shows Off Its Roots With Virtual Presentation

Mitsubishi’s Quirky Timeline

Mike Austin, the former Autoblog executive editor, gave car enthusiasts and history buffs the honor of showing us the history of Mitsubishi’s timeline on the company’s press website, Mitsubishi News, a virtual presentation of some fun and peculiar models in the Japanese domestic market that the U.S never got to see. 

Photo Source/Copyright: yahoolifestyle

One interesting vehicle is the Minica Toppo that a light recreational vehicle that was produced from 1990-2004 and reintroduced from 2008-2013 as the Mitsubishi Toppo. According to Mitsubishi News the Toppo “adopted a 1:2 door configuration with a single door on the driver’s side and two doors on the passenger side (think a Hyundai Twitter Thursday of last week, April 2nd. Essentially it is a virtual museum that spans from the 1917 Mitsubishi Model A to the 2008 Galant Fortis Sportback. This gift that Austin has presented us car enthusiasts is not only a fun trip down memory lane but a Veloster, as well as a ‘Super High Roof’ that added 70 mm to the height of the standard roof … Addressing the desire to drive something a little different, the lineup was soon joined by a number of variants with personalities designed to bring more fun to the class and including the recreation specification Carabosse, the young mother and baby-oriented Marble, and the Town Bee with its round frog-eye headlamps projecting just forward of the leading edge of the engine hood.” As a note, those diagonal door handles are certainly something that you don’t see every day.

Photo Source/Copyright: yahoolifestyle

The Japanese domestic market has more to offer than just their unusual mini vehicles such as the Mitsubishi FTO, the cool James Bond-like, front-wheel-drive coupe that was produced from 1994 to 2000. It was known as “a car that delivered fun-to-drive qualities in abundance and was selected 1994-1995 Japan Car of the Year.” Another fun fact is that the reason why it was called the FTO was that it was inserted below the Mitsubishi GTO or otherwise known as the 3000GT.

Photo Source/Copyright: yahoolifestyle

We can’t forget the off-road JDM Delica vans that are now covering the Pacific Northwest having moved beyond the 25-year import embargo. The 1994 Delica Space Gear (fourth picture above) was significant because it moved the engine underneath the hood as opposed to beneath the front seats where it was beforehand (fifth picture with the Delica Star Wagon), however,  based on the timeline “The Gear variant name was added in the belief that customers would become attached to it as a familiar ‘piece of gear’ for leisure and everyday purposes…Suspension was by double wishbone at the front and a 5-link with coil spring arrangement at the rear. The 4WD model used the Super Select 4WD driveline popular on the Pajero and with ample obstacle clearance angles and ride height delivered outstanding off-road performance.”

Photo Source/Copyright: yahoolifestyle

There are also some regular cars that are pretty-good looking that U.S consumers never got to see, one of them being the Emeraude (otherwise called the Mitsubishi Galant), a name derived from the French word emerald, launch in 1992. 

Photo Source/Copyright: yahoolifestyle

There are also some vehicles that aren’t as good-looking, like the Lancer Fiore, which is now known as the Mitsubishi Lancer, was first released in 1983 in Japan. As you can see (from the picture above), it wasn’t all that appealing at first, until its makeover in 1988. According to the timeline, “In January 1988, the 4-door sedan range underwent a full model change to a ‘high-quality sedan for the style-conscious adult’ theme (no word on five-year-old Canadian boys). This series also used personality distinguishing variant names include Vie, Fabio and Cyborg.”

 In 2017, the Lancer was discontinued as the company decided to redirect its focus onto crossovers and SUVs, as well as electric and hybrid powertrains. Nevertheless, the Lancer will always have a legacy as a versatile and purposeful city car.

University Mitsubishi

At University Mitsubishi, we sell plenty of cars that have cool and quirky features but with sophisticated and daring looks. Those who are interested in any of our models can check out our inventory and chat with an online representative for assistance.

Photo Source/Copyright: Car and Driver