Mitsubishi Mirage on death row

The Mitsubishi Mirage is the brand’s only passenger car sold in Australia and it could spell the end of an era if changes aren’t made to the micro hatchback’s safety credentials.

Mitsubishi will be compelled to pull the current $14,990 Mirage from showrooms and stop selling it nationally as new side impact safety regulations come into effect from November 1, 2021.

Updated Australian Design Rules (ADR) that require higher levels of side impact protection have already claimed a few scalps, such as the Lexus IS, RC and CT model lines and now the Mitsubishi Mirage compact hatch could be deleted from Aussie showrooms.

The Nissan GT-R and Alpine A110 sports cars will also be axed.

“We’ve navigated our way around that ADR with most of our models but the Mirage is under threat,” conceded Mitsubishi Australia’s product strategy boss, Owen Thomson.

ADR 85 forces all new cars sold from November 1, 2021 (and introduced before November 1, 2017) to pass a stricter new side impact test that could yet claim more vehicles currently sold in Australia.

There’s a chance Mitsubishi will be able to re-engineer and upgrade the Mirage to adhere to the new safety regulations, but the tight timeframe suggests even if it can modify the almost 10-year-old model, first introduced in 2013, it will be pulled from the market for a period.

“We’d really like to continue with Mirage if we can,” said Thomson.

More likely is that Mitsubishi Australia will wait for a potential replacement in future, rather than invest more capital in the ageing, slow-selling micro car.

Although a next-generation Mirage has not been confirmed, it could be co-developed alongside next-gen compact cars from the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, such as new Nissan Micra and Renault Clio.

Mitsubishi Australia spokesperson Catherine Humphreys-Scott said the Mirage’s future was “under assessment”.

“We haven’t confirmed it [will be discontinued]. We know the model as it is today is under threat. [But] we don’t know whether it’s retiring or whether it’s a matter of timing [for a new model to arrive],” she said.

“It’s not information held in this building. We’ll keep you updated as we get the confirmation.”

Between January and August this year, just 617 Mitsubishi Mirage hatches have been sold in Australia, compared to the segment-leading Kia Picanto’s 4585 sales.