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Mitsubishi Relaunches Its Brand At The 2017 Tokyo Motor Show

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This article is more than 6 years old.

Jason Fogelson

Mitsubishi Motors chose the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show as the venue to relaunch its brand in the wake of joining the Nissan-Renault Alliance. In a series of press conferences at the Mitsubishi Guest House in Tokyo, the company gathered a group of international automotive journalists to announce details of its current status, upcoming product line, and broad outlines of its future plans. The event included addresses by Chief Planning Officer Mitsuhiko Yamashita, Corporate Vice President Vincent Cobee and Tsunehiro Kunimoto, Corporate Vice President of the Design Division, as well as welcoming remarks from Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko. During the Tokyo Motor Show, journalists also had the opportunity to participate in roundtable discussions with Tsunehiro Kunimoto, and with Guillaume Cartier, Corporate Vice President in charge of global marketing and sales and Trevor Mann, Chief Operating Officer, both recent arrivals from Nissan. The event represented a full-court press from Mitsubishi to reinforce its message of renewal, and to reveal its new global tagline: “Drive your Ambition.”

2017 marks Mitsubishi’s 100th Anniversary as an automobile manufacturer, as its first car, the Mitsubishi Model A, was a 1917 model. The company’s roots go back even further, all the way to its founding in 1870 as shipping company Tsukumo Tokai. The Mitsubishi company name dates back to 1873, a merger of the crests of the Iwasaki and Yamauchi families. The company’s three-diamond trademark dates to 1914.

Jason Fogelson

Mitsubishi has experienced rebirth before – significantly in 1954, after being disbanded in 1946 following World War II. While the current rebranding is not quite on that scale, it does come on the heels of a crisis. Last year’s revelation of long-term use of unapproved methods to calculate fuel economy for its vehicles led to a plunge in stock prices, as well as a wash of negative public opinion for a company with the stated business management philosophies of “Soki Hoko = Corporate Responsibility to Society;” “Shoji Komei = Integrity and Fairness;” and “Ritsugyo Boeki = Global Understanding through Business.” (Source: Mitsubishi Public Affairs Committee.) Nissan’s $2.29 billion investment in Mitsubishi last October facilitated Mitsubishi joining the Nissan-Renault Alliance, which has resulted in the new Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance becoming the largest automotive group by sales for the first six months of 2017. The lifeline investment came with significant entanglements for Mitsubishi, including the installation of Mann, Cobee, Cartier and others, as well as Carlos Ghosn, the new Chairman of Mitsubishi.

On September 15, 2017, Ghosn announced a new six-year plan for the Alliance, called “Alliance 2022.” The plan has six objectives:

  • More than 9 million vehicles to share four common platforms
  • Proportion of common powertrains to rise from a third to three-quarters of total volumes
  • Additional synergies expected from electrification, connectivity and autonomous technologies
  • 12 pure electric models to be launched, utilizing common EV platforms and components
  • 40 vehicles to be launched with autonomous drive (AD) technology
  • To become an operator of robo-vehicle ride-hailing services

The announcement covered the whole Alliance, without breaking out individual company goals or responsibilities.

Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi’s announcement was programmed to highlight the company’s continued independence within the Alliance framework. The company spoke proudly of its history, heritage and culture, emphasizing several aspects of its reputation: As an SUV manufacturer; as a “tough and reliable” brand; as “skillful at four-wheel drive and electrification technologies;" and for its success on the Rally circuit. The company plans to build upon those aspects going forward, benefitting from the new economies of scale as part of the Alliance, as well as participating in the platform-sharing opportunities and manufacturing capacity of its partner companies. Design chief Kunimoto emphasized in particular that Mitsubishi will retain unique exterior and interior design features on its future vehicles, and will not participate in rebadging exercises. The absence of such badge-engineering in the current Nissan-Renault lineups lends credence to this projection.

Mitusbishi also chose to show off the e-Evolution concept vehicle at the Tokyo Motor Show, an EV sport utility vehicle prototype that may signal a future design direction for Mitsubishi vehicles. Additionally, the Eclipse Cross compact SUV was on display in advance of its 2018 introduction to the US market.

The mood at Mitsubishi, subjectively speaking, is bright and cheery. In the light of recent dark times, it has to be if the company is to move forward successfully, particularly in the United States. Mitsubishi Motors North America has been moving aggressively to address weaknesses in its dealer body, and the introduction of the Eclipse Cross comes at a time when consumers are snapping up compact crossovers at record rates. The company is certainly primed for renewal, and a revitalized product line enhance by Alliance resources and shared platforms will be key elements.

Jason Fogelson

A side note to the Mitsubishi announcement: As a writer and editor, I was distracted by the odd capitalization of the new global corporate tagline, “Drive your Ambition.” I brought this to the attention of CVP Cartier during a roundtable discussion. I was a little shocked at his reaction – which was that he was shocked, too. In the big picture world of global marketing, sometimes the smallest detail gets overlooked. It appears that the capitalization scheme was unintentional, more of a design decision than a conscious one. To his credit, Cartier pledged to investigate.