The Mitsubishi That Could Be, but Almost Certainly Won't

by Tim Healey

Published: June 8th, 2020

the mitsubishi that could be but almost certainly won t

You may have spotted a crop of recent headlines and briefly thought that Mitsubishi has designs on returning to the sports car market.

Sorry to burst that particular bubble.

However, if, like me, you spent at least a portion of the 1990s daydreaming about the 3000GT, a report from Motor1 suggests that you might have reason to dream. Well, only if the automaker listens to outsiders who have talent and enthusiasm but not an employee ID.

A rendering has shown a possible future for Mitsubishi high-end sports cars – the 4000GT.

Renderings don’t mean much, especially when they come from a third party and not the automaker itself, but if one is inclined to hope, the 4000GT has the spirit of the old one while also sporting a modernized look.

The lines are sharper, and the overhangs are no longer equal – the front overhang is long and the rear is short. There’s a giant wing out back that would make a Subaru STi green with envy. One feature from the past pops up – pop-up headlights. Pun intended, and I’m not sorry.

Daytime running lights and the rear lights both run the car’s full width.

Since it’s just a drawing, there are no specs, but if it were me running Mitsubishi, I’d find a twin-turbo six, a manual trans, and an all-wheel-drive system.

Of course, if it were me running Mitsubishi, the Eclipse Cross would have a different name, the vehicles would be better in terms of build quality, an Eclipse sport coupe would still exist, and this car would be built.

But I run this blog (at least up to a point…I have corporate masters to answer to), not a car company. I can make up a fantasy lineup without being beholden to bean-counters and business realities.

And the business reality for Mitsubishi isn’t good, which makes me think this car won’t ever come to fruition. Alas, it exists as merely a design exercise, in all likelihood.

Too bad, because Toyota’s new Supra needs more competition.

[Image: Mitsubishi]

#3000GT #Mitsubishi #Renderings

Tim Healey

Tim Healey grew up around the auto-parts business and has always had a love for cars — his parents joke his first word was “‘Vette”. Despite this, he wanted to pursue a career in sports writing but he ended up falling semi-accidentally into the automotive-journalism industry, first at Consumer Guide Automotive and later at Web2Carz.com. He also worked as an industry analyst at Mintel Group and freelanced for About.com, CarFax, Vehix.com, High Gear Media, Torque News, FutureCar.com, Cars.com, among others, and of course Vertical Scope sites such as AutoGuide.com, Off-Road.com, and HybridCars.com. He’s an urbanite and as such, doesn’t need a daily driver, but if he had one, it would be compact, sporty, and have a manual transmission.

More by Tim Healey

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 12 comments

Jeff S on Jun 09, 2020

Agree Mitsubishi needs to go with mainstream vehicles such as crossovers and small compact car which they are already doing. They should add a simple compact pickup to their product lineup.

Like Reply
John R on Jun 09, 2020

Shooosh! "Ghost in the Shell", take me away!

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Tassos Under incompetent, affirmative action hire Mary Barra, GM has been shooting itself in the foot on a daily basis.Whether the Malibu cancellation has been one of these shootings is NOT obvious at all.GM should be run as a PROFITABLE BUSINESS and NOT as an outfit that satisfies everybody and his mother in law's pet preferences.IF the Malibu was UNPROFITABLE, it SHOULD be canceled.More generally, if its SEGMENT is Unprofitable, and HALF the makers cancel their midsize sedans, not only will it lead to the SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST ones, but the survivors will obviously be more profitable if the LOSERS were kept being produced and the SMALL PIE of midsize sedans would yield slim pickings for every participant.SO NO, I APPROVE of the demise of the unprofitable Malibu, and hope Nissan does the same to the Altima, Hyundai with the SOnata, Mazda with the Mazda 6, and as many others as it takes to make the REMAINING players, like the Excellent, sporty Accord and the Bulletproof Reliable, cheap to maintain CAMRY, more profitable and affordable.
GregLocock Car companies can only really sell cars that people who are new car buyers will pay a profitable price for. As it turns out fewer and fewer new car buyers want sedans. Large sedans can be nice to drive, certainly, but the number of new car buyers (the only ones that matter in this discussion) are prepared to sacrifice steering and handling for more obvious things like passenger and cargo space, or even some attempt at off roading. We know US new car buyers don't really care about handling because they fell for FWD in large cars.
Slavuta Why is everybody sweating? Like sedans? - go buy one. Better - 2. Let CRV/RAV rust on the dealer lot. I have 3 sedans on the driveway. My neighbor - 2. Neighbors on each of our other side - 8 SUVs.
Theflyersfan With sedans, especially, I wonder how many of those sales are to rental fleets. With the exception of the Civic and Accord, there are still rows of sedans mixed in with the RAV4s at every airport rental lot. I doubt the breakdown in sales is publicly published, so who knows... GM isn't out of the sedan business - Cadillac exists and I can't believe I'm typing this but they are actually decent - and I think they are making a huge mistake, especially if there's an extended oil price hike (cough...Iran...cough) and people want smaller and hybrids. But if one is only tied to the quarterly shareholder reports and not trends and the big picture, bad decisions like this get made.
Wjtinfwb Not proud of what Stellantis is rolling out?