Mitsubishi Motors Achieves Five Million Vehicle Sales in the United States - Mitsubishi Newsroom

This is good news. The more Mitsubishi's out here, the more support we'll have. I had been wondering if all of their efforts have been paying off, and it looks like they have. Impressive growth, albeit with smaller starting points.

 

Why are you keeping track of this? Just curious.

 

Fair question. Not "keeping track", this was an email newsletter sent to me from Mitsubishi. I thought it was interesting. As a recent new Outlander buyer, this was one of the concerns I had. It benefits all Mitsubishi owners when there are more on the road for the reasons I stated, better dealer and company support in addition to larger community. Not too big of a concern as Mitsubishi does well in the rest of the world, but the US community is comparatively small. The more drivers out there, the more forum activity, which leads to better support for me. I am on another car brand forum and it has a lot of activity and lots of members helping each other out. I would love for that to happen here. These are the best resources for random tinkering questions and problem solving.

 

I agree it is good to see Mitsubishi making a big come back ensuring future models, warranty and dealer support in the US.

 

I got the same e-mail, 5 million since the brand inception?
Is that like the same number of Camry sold per year?

 

I was about to say the same thing.

 

Haha. I was figuring that might not be too far from the truth so I looked to see how close you were: Using January 2016 as a proxy, Camrys sell more than 4 x's the volume of all Mitsubishi's combined. Using January again, over 300k Camrys will be sold in a year, or 5 million in 16 years. So even though you were intentionally exaggerating, Toyota does sell a ridiculous number of Camrys. Even crazier, Ford sells 2x as many F Series trucks as Toyota sells Camrys! Out here in SF, that's not even conceivable, but probably makes sense in other parts of the US.

And this tidbit has been my little contribution to the forum today.

Happy reading to those who are dying to read more!
Auto Sales - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com

 

Sure,... the vehicles are well-rated by Consumer Reports, but the problem that I've heard about is
that Mitsu DEALERS have a Really Crappy reputation. Like,... the Worst in customer satisfaction.
I haven't actually experienced it, but that's what I've read in this forum. Just my 2 cents.

 

Hmm. I'm not going to defend Mitsubishi dealers, but my experience has been that all brand car dealers are pretty bad. I had a ho hum, could be better experience myself, but I had a far worse experience from the German "luxury brand" dealer next door. My 2 cents is that it's hit or miss with any dealership. It really depends on what their incentives are at any given time. If you are helping them with some quota they have, whether it be a sale or financing or some add on, they will be super helpful and friendly. If you aren't helping them with what they are looking for, they will treat you like they don't care if they get your business at all. It's just how they make their living. It's a big purchase for consumers, but you are just a number to them, and sometimes that number is a zero to them, even if it's $30k or $40k or whatever to you. I really think the dealer system as a whole is antiquated and broke and should be revolutionized like Tesla is doing. But again, just my 2 cents.

 

I have to agree, the brand would be much better off with a little focus on dealership operations and training. I have to drive 60 miles and pass three dealers to get my car aligned because most dealers don't have the hub mounted units required (one dealer doesn't even have a rack at all). The closest dealer to my house changed the oil and put in the wrong viscosity three times in a row and rounded off the drain plug bolt.

The wonderful design and technology is wasted when the mechanics learn about it by trial and error on your car. I agree with the post above. I'd love a direct to market system with a fixed price and proper factory trained service people.