Poor Mitsu...

[adrenaline]

Mitsubishi marks the start of its 380 'relaunch' with a $29,990 limited-edition

By TERRY MARTIN 17 February 2006

MITSUBISHI Motors Australia will "relaunch" its all-new 380 large sedan after slow sales have forced it to discount the car and to suspend production for three weeks during March.

The latest revelation follows the company’s announcement last month that it would cut 250 factory jobs through voluntary redundancies and scale back production of the 380 from 32,000 to 27,000 for the first 12 months.

As GoAuto reported last week, its latest LE limited-edition model unveiled at the Melbourne International Motor Show last week has extra features and slashes $4500 from the recommended retail price of the base model to start from $29,990.

Mitsubishi Australia president Robert McEniry said the LE was a reaction to the 380’s slow sales to date but was not a "discount car" per se. He also said he remained true to his word in "protecting the value" of the vehicle.

"This is a normal part of marketing in any category – that you do value packs to stimulate the market – so I don’t think it should be interpreted outside that context," he said.

He also said it represented the beginning of a "relaunch program" for the large sedan.

"Launching the car in the period (October) that it was launched last year – as the market starts to go away and the extraordinary competitiveness and the fuel prices – wasn’t the ideal time to launch it.

"So as we go into the growth cycle again, it is appropriate to relaunch it.

"I don’t know if it’ll get to 2500 (380 sales) a month early, but that’s where we’re still targeting. As we said, we’re waiting for the fleets to come back in – we’re waiting to relaunch the car – and the dealer response and customer response, even before we started to advertise it (the LE), has been very good.

"We’ll keep doing what I said we’d do, and that’s manage the inventory to what the market is – and not get forced into having to force-discount cars ... We’ll keep trimming the sail to the market – as the market comes back, we can go up; if the market stays flat, we’ll remain at the same point."

According to VFACTS figures, Mitsubishi sold 1650 380s in November, 947 in December and 719 in January.

As for the i mini car shown in Melbourne, which is a relation to the Smart ForTwo, Mr McEniry said it had strong marketing potential for the Mitsubishi brand but was not deemed a volume seller.

"Like any brand, you try and have some image or lead cars to both expand the range and to bring new technologies into the total range," he said.

"Clearly, it’s aimed at the young opinion-leader group, and if it’s accepted it actually allows us to introduce a new customer group early into Mitsubishi’s total product range/

"It won’t be super-cheap ... it’ll be just under the Colt, or somewhere around there."

WTF?? Relaunch and limited edition models?? Theyre already discounting it. Even though they wont admit it. Leave it on the market for atleast 6 months before releasing a limited edition IMO.

I blame those crappy ads for the slow sales

[syko]

How exactly do you relaunch a car, does that just mean a more aggressive AD campaign. Really the RRP was way too high since there competetion was meant to be the camry.

[fpv_gtho]

I think theyre planning something with the ads as you suggest. Its not like theyre gunna take the car off the market for a month and bring it back as if it'd never been here in the first place

[syko]

Its sounds like there in denial,what difference will relaunching make. Its not like people don't know about the 380 they just don't want to buy it when they see the Competition.

[kingofthering]

looks like mitsubishi is going under down under

[Blue Supra]

^^^
he has 380 posts

Its pretty much going to be a bigger ad campaign, the LE being stuffed with options for free and thats about it.

[fpv_gtho]

Ford ran into the problem when they launched the Mk1 Focus that it didnt get any media attention as it was released in the same quarter as the BA. Perhap Mitsu feel there wasnt enough attention given to it. Personally i think everyones looked at the car and simply didnt look twice as it needed to be here 3 years ago

[SlickHolden]

I seen a 380 again the other day, I see a couple all the time now.

And a little off topic but that guy that i seen driving the 300c boat, Now yesterday was in a AMG Merc with quad exhausts. He must work somewhere with expensive cars, Wish i knew where i would report him for thrashing the new cars, Unless he owns the place

[thatdbeme]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

And a little off topic but that guy that i seen driving the 300c boat, Now yesterday was in a AMG Merc with quad exhausts. He must work somewhere with expensive cars, Wish i knew where i would report him for thrashing the new cars, Unless he owns the place

maybe he owns the cars

[fpv_gtho]

I dont think he'd own them, AMG's and 300C's are pretty far apart on the "uber german luxury" scale, i'd find it interesting that someone that would flaunt around an AMG would "lower" themselves to a Chrysler.

Plus, theyre both DaimlerChrysler so maybe hes some manager of a massive dealer for MB and Chrysler

[thatdbeme]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

I dont think he'd own them, AMG's and 300C's are pretty far apart on the "uber german luxury" scale, i'd find it interesting that someone that would flaunt around an AMG would "lower" themselves to a Chrysler.

Plus, theyre both DaimlerChrysler so maybe hes some manager of a massive dealer for MB and Chrysler

if i get to the point where i can afford something along the lines of an AMG, i'll still want something with that i can use more as an everday car that still has some style, 300C would be perfect for that.

ya could be right though. i didnt really know any of the benz dealers are associated with chrysler/jeep

[fpv_gtho]

Well thats fair enough. I'd expect someone to stay within Mercedes though and go for a base model C-Class or something though, but it depends what you want from a car

[SlickHolden]

And he drove the car the same to like a nut, Off at the lights 30meters in front of the rest of traffic, BUT!, It went around the Massive Roundabout a little better

[fpv_gtho]

Well you can get 30m ahead through mild acceleration but nailing your reaction time

[SlickHolden]

Black to it was, Sounded great, That new long shape they have makes them look a little like the Au's.