Like many automakers, Mitsubishi is focusing on SUVs and crossovers. It’s what consumers want in the U.S., so Mitsubishi has been busy over the years ensuring its high-riding vehicles like the Outlander, Outlander PHEV, and Outlander Sport remain competitive. This has meant that options like the Mirage and Mirage G4 have gone unloved for nearly a decade in the U.S. A new report from Autoblog claims that Mitsubishi will be dropping the Mirage in its home market of Japan, bringing up questions about what’s in store for the Mirage for the American market.
Autoblog first reported the news and confirmed it with Mitsubishi. “Due to the end of production of the Mirage, we may not be able to meet the customer’s request for body color, options, etc. Please contact our sales staff for details,” reads an official message on Mitsubishi’s Japanese website.
As the outlet points out, the Mirage is far more popular in Japan than it is here. While American shoppers are mostly interested in SUVs and crossovers, small cars like the Mirage sell well in Japan. So, the outlet doesn’t believe that Mitsubishi is choosing to stop producing the Mirage has anything to do with the vehicle’s sales figures, at least in Japan.
Interestingly, Mitsubishi doesn’t have the same message on its American website and hasn’t made a formal announcement for what’s in store for the U.S. yet. Usually, automakers discontinue vehicles in their home countries before doing something similar for global markets. We think it’s only a matter of time until Mitsubishi announces that the Mirage and Miarge G4 will be discontinued in America for a few reasons.
Subcompact vehicles like the Mirage aren’t popular in the U.S. Multiple automakers have dropped out of the subcompact car segment in favor of small SUVs, so Mitsubishi would just be following a larger trend. More recently, Hyundai dropped the subcompact Accent for the 2023 model year. Additionally, the Mirage isn’t a popular vehicle in the U.S. Last year, Mitsubishi sold 22,743 units of the Mirage, while Nissan sold 60,913 Versas and Kia sold 31,362 Rios. Compared to its main rivals, the Mirage doesn’t hold up well in terms of sales.
A Mitsubishi spokesperson told Autoblog that “the Mirage remains an integral part of our U.S. line-up at this time,” though that sounds like a boilerplate response. The current generation of the Mirage has been around since 2014, while the Mirage G4 sedan was introduced in 2017. In 2021, the Mirage received updated exterior styling and some extra tech features, while the manual gearbox was dropped for 2023.
Source: Autoblog
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