Putting Mitsubishi on track

Mitsubishi followers must be experiencing a decent bout of déjà vu. After the big-dollar disaster that was the Japanese company’s pairing with DaimlerChrysler-Mitsubishi in 2000, Mitsubishi finds itself with a new bedfellow, the Renault-Nissan Alliance.

This time around, however, the merger makes more sense.

“Usually the product plan is five, six year ahead,” says Philippe Klein, who is responsible for product planning at Nissan Motor Corporation.

“And for technologies and trends we are looking about five to ten years ahead.”

His challenge is figuring out how, in the short term, to use Renault-Nissan’s strengths to improve Mitsubishi. Klein insists Mitsubishi is not being integrated; it will remain as an independent brand with unique brand qualities and characteristics.

“Mitsubishi, Renault and Nissan [each] have their own heritage. You have your heritage and your vision of where you want the brand to go, and you’re going to navigate. Mitsubishi has its own strengths is some countries and in some segments.”

A lot to like
Klein says he sees a lot he likes at Mitsubishi. Symmetry in volume segments is one positive: Pathfinder and Pajero, Qashqai and Outlander, Juke and ASX, Navara and Triton, Pulsar and Mirage. Nissan and Mitsubishi match up well in platforms, powertrains and segments and therefore the ability to leverage technology and platforms.

Indeed, expensive development of fuel-efficient drivetrains, electric vehicles, connectivity technology and autonomous technologies can be shared and spread across what will amount to more than 10 million vehicles annually. The potential financial benefits to Renault-Nissan and Mitsubishi working together are enormous.

Talking horsepower
Talking heritage and horsepower, Mitsubishi brings with it two potent monikers – RalliArt and Evo – to park alongside Nismo and GT-R. And let’s not forget RenaultSport…

We’re not saying the merger will yield a supercar offspring, but the potential to revive the Pulsar GTi-R by sharing bits with a [future] Lancer Evo is certainly there.

“Evo is a very nice cherry on the cake, but you need to have a cake,” answers Klein.

Nissan has already confirmed it is readying an all-new Leaf, but when asked about next-gen GT-R, Klein responds: “There is still potential for GT-R. When I see the emotion and the feedback we are getting every time we are making a new version or a new evolution of this car, I really believe the GT-R is something we need to continue.”

“It is not the bread and butter of the company,” he adds.

“When you look at it in terms of brand impact, in some countries Leaf is earning as much brand impact as GT-R.”

The question is: Will Nissan share GT-R technology with Mitsubishi?

In the face of suggestions that Nissan WILL build a production version of the IDx concept, Klein flat out rejects a rear-drive sports car revival.

“It is a very difficult segment because there are no more customers,” claims Klein.

The Nissan exec uses the jointly developed Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ as evidence.

“It was only moderately successful,” he says.

In a world where success is measured in millions, he’s being kind. Only around 100,000 have sold globally in five years of production.

LCV and SUV potential
There’s tremendous potential of platform sharing and flexibility with Navara and Triton, however.

“Take Navara and Triton, what you’re going to see is… in fact, [what] you’re not going to see. The main objective that we’re pursuing is the customer does not see where we’ve shared components, modules and platforms.

“When the consumers start to perceive these are the same car, it is a failure for us,” Klein explained.

Platform sharing immediately frees Nissan and Mitsubishi to build Triton/Pajero Sport and Navara/Frontier on the same assembly lines.

That’s important for markets such as the US where the locally built Navara/Frontier is selling very well. Nissan claims US sales of its mid-sized pickup perked up by more than 38 per cent in 2016 to total better than 86,000 vehicles.

In contrast, Mitsubishi hasn’t sold Triton/Pajero Sport in the US for 20 years. Triton is simply one opportunity.

EV segment changers
Klein explains that EVs are changing how segments are defined.

“Electric vehicle technology is opening and moving some of the constraints in terms of vehicle architecture. You’re going to see this gradually coming [emerging],” he says.

In other words, as EVs grow in popularity new vehicle segments will be created.

Klein confirms Nissan is developing a low-cost EV for developing markets. Despite our third-world attitude to EVs, we won’t see it in Australia.

“It happens that in China there are cities where you cannot get a numberplate for a non-EV. We also look to other markets like India, Indonesia and across Southeast Asia where an [lower specification] EV like this makes sense,” Klein explains

If it makes sense for Nissan, it also makes sense for Mitsubishi, he opines.