Don’t worry, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell are okay. I’m talking about car models here. Heh.
But seriously, Mitsubishi has decided the time has come for four of its struggling models: the Eclipse, Eclipse Spyder, Endeavor, and Galant. There’s probably no argument from anyone that these models are easily the weakest in the line up. The Eclipse gained fans with its styling, but really didn’t offer any kind of legit performance aspect to match its style. It was way too nose heavy for one.
The Endeavor has never sold well since the first day it was introduced to the market. Just think about the last time you saw one. In fact, do you even remember what it looks like? Compared to other SUV’s in the market, it really didn’t offer much to entice people away from their Honda’s and Toyotas.
And then there’s the Galant which has been around fortwo decades yet always ended up last place in the mid-size category for sales. The current version is quite dreadful in terms of, well, everything.
So that leaves a pretty significant hole in Mistubishi’s line up with just the Lancer, Outlander and the new RVR. So what does the future hold for Mitsubishi? Well, efficiency. The all-electric i-Miev is on its way to North America and Mitsubishi has promised to bring eight hybrid and battery powered models to the market by 2015.
Fuel efficiency and the environment is fine and all, but when you’re capable of making something as brilliant as the EVO, why would you put all your eggs in one basket?
Expect the four models to be killed off gradually in the coming years with all of them being gone completely by 2014. In fact, Mitsubishi doesn’t even have the Gallant on its website anymore.
[Automotive News]