Mitsubishi Sigma Reviews

Nissan is in dire straits and another Japanese carmaker is coming to the rescue. Forging an official bond through a memorandum of understanding in March, Honda and Nissan are now taking steps towards a ‘business integration’ — that means a new holding company led by Honda executives will likely sit above the two brands.Mitsubishi, Nissan’s ongoing alliance partner, also expressed an interest in joining Japan’s nascent automotive giant. Nissan's other alliance partner Renault elected to keep distance from the Japanese arrangement. Not everyone is so sure the new deal is a good one, including outspoken former Nissan Boss Carlos Ghosn. Investors have also cooled on their initial excitement, with Nissan stock dropping 7.8 per cent late last week.Distinct from The Alliance, the new arrangement will see Nissan and Honda merge under a new, as-yet unnamed holding group. The deal is tipped to be finalised by August 2026 and the new company will be listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). Mitsubishi’s involvement in the new company will be decided by January 2025. This is a response to Nissan’s current position, with the company battling sales declines, shrinking profits and huge debts. Specifically, China is the main target, with Nissan’s sales in the country down 50 per cent last fiscal year. New, electrified and ‘software-defined’ products are desperately needed. Banding together won’t see Nissan and Honda outsell Toyota, which delivered over 11 million vehicles last year. Still, with Honda’s 3.8 million unit and Nissan’s 3.4 million unit projections, the pair will be close. Add Mitsubishi’s circa-900,000 sales and that’s over 8.0 million. Honda will have a controlling share in the new group, being Japan’s second-biggest carmaker and the larger company of the three. It also has more stable financials than Nissan. In short, working together should see Honda and Nissan share vehicle platforms and technology investment, giving the two brands greater operational efficiency. The goal is to have a combined sales revenue exceeding 30 trillion yen (A$300 billion) and a healthy 10 per cent operating margin. The change in arrangement will see Honda and Nissan working closely but will not preclude the brands from continuing relationships with the likes of General Motors and Renault, respectively.In Ghosn's eyes, the deal stands to stem Nissan's losses, yet does not offer clear advantages in terms of technology, supply chain or platform. Neither company has a strong foot hold in China, for example, yet they compete fiercely in other markets such as the US and Europe.“It doesn’t make sense ... the first thing you look at when you want to envision an alliance is complementarity between the two partners. When I look at Honda and Nissan, I see none,” Ghosn commented from Beirut, Lebanon.Honda's engineering excellence lays mainly in combustion engines and it will forever be the bridesmaid in the hybrid game. The cutting edge Insight beat Toyota to market with a hybrid yet it failed to have the cultural impact the Prius did. Honda then didn't persevere with hybrids in passengers cars in the same way Toyota did.The brand's electric cars have struggled, too. The Honda e ended up being a quirky curio, while the North American-market Prologue and (critically panned) European market e:Ny1 haven't blown the competition away.Nissan was, on the other hand, early to the electric car game with the Leaf yet did not progress the technology as fast as new Chinese carmakers have since. The Ariya is its lone electric car though an all-new Leaf is coming in 2025 or 2026.Game-changing solid state batteries are also in Nissan and Honda's future arsenals, which could turn the game around in the eventual merged company's favour.

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Many so-called “all-new” models aren’t all that new. In fact, a sizeable chunk are reskinned versions of what came before, with fresh sheetmetal over the same general hard points.

The Mitsubishi Pajero Sport has always been a quiet achiever in a market full of vehicles that generate more excitement, that have greater cache with the car-buying public, and sell better than the Pajero Sport. It generally moves less than half the units top-sellers such as Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X move in the same amount of time.

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While increased awareness, acceptance and infrastructure for electrification will have improved plug-in hybrid sales, there’s more improvement to come on the PHEV front.

A Czech dealer has revealed a special edition Mitsubishi Colt small car that channels Ralliart vibes. In other markets, Mitsubishi isn’t scared to trot out the Ralliart name, with South East Asia markets getting stickered-up versions of the Pajero Sport, Triton and other models. Like those, don’t expect this Colt for Australia.  Known as the Performance edition, the Clio-based Mitsubishi Colt isn’t exactly the hottest hatch on the block, with a dyno verified 96kW and 222Nm at the wheels. Phwoah.That’s the sort of grunt that would’ve had a 199X Suzuki Swift GTi sweating, but not the current hot hatch establishment. The similar-size Hyundai i20 N and Volkswagen Polo GTI pack at least 50 per cent more punch. There are some good aspects to the hot Colt, such as a six-speed manual transmission and light 1097kg kerb weight. It features high-end 18-inch OZ Racing Superturismo GT wheels, too. Further details, such as price and run-size, have not been revealed. Compared to the last Colt Ralliart, sold in Australia between 2006 and 2010, the stats are pretty promising, that vehicle putting out 113kW and 210Nm from its turbo-petrol four-banger and weighing 1130kg. It was good for a 0-100km/h sprint in 8.0 seconds. There are no suspension changes for this Mitsubishi Czech special, though, not even lowering springs. It’s more of an appearance pack than a full transformation and that means there’s absolutely zero likelihood of coming to Australia. The new Clio on which the Colt is based isn’t sold in Oz and the Colt certainly isn’t. Additionally, Mitsubishi Australia has previously turned down similar performance versions as it wants “to do heritage justice.”"We are asking for a Ralliart," Mitsubishi Australia CEO Shaun Westcott told CarsGuide at the Triton ute’s launch in March, also suggesting a vehicle like that would be popular in other markets such as South Africa. "So the fact that we are there, and that we are in Ralliart and that we are racing the vehicle I think does open up an opportunity for us to look at performance enhancement in the future potentially around the vehicle." Ralliart’s reboot is in the works. Don’t expect it to be half-baked but hopefully it’s here soon.

Mitsubishi has released a special edition Ralliart variant of its Pajero Sport model overseas, though the brand’s local division says it could have something a little more compelling in its sights for the local market.What is essentially a sticker pack in the Philippines, the special edition Pajero Sport – known as the Mondero Sport locally – features an array of design tweaks, such as special White Diamond paint, black gloss rims, red bumper accents and a huge Ralliart art decal plastered on the car’s rear third quarter.Underneath, though, everything remains stock-standard, with the 2.4-litre turbo-diesel engine that produces 133kW/430Nm through an eight-speed automatic transmission going unchanged from the regular model.Strangely, it isn’t even being offered with Mitsubishi’s Super Select 4WD-II system. Rather, the special-edition is exclusive to the rear-wheel drive variant, according to Top Gear Phillipines. Product Public Relations Manager at Mitsubishi Australia, Adam Davis, said that's why the brand isn’t keen to roll out the model locally.“Similar to previous Ralliart design models offered in other markets, Mitsubishi Motors Australia will not offer this option for Pajero Sport,” he said in a statement.“We continue discussions with Mitsubishi Motors Corporation to best understand how to apply Ralliart locally, and we want to do its heritage justice.”How and when a Ralliart for the local market takes shape is unclear at this stage, although rumours of special-edition Ralliart Triton have been brewing for quite some time.Mitsubishi CEO Shaun Westcott told CarsGuide at the Triton’s national launch in March that the brand has been “asking for a Ralliart”, with other ute-loving markets such as South Africa also thought to be keen.Should one come to Australia, it could take shape as a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) with a petrol engine to take on the Ford Ranger PHEV and BYD Shark 6, particularly as the brand leans into the technology more following the success of the Outlander PHEV.The brand’s 2024 dealer conference outlined its path to electrification earlier this year, with a keen focus on embracing more hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery technology before 2030.If the model does end up being a Triton off-spring, it is likely to bear a strong resemblance to the souped-up AXCR Triton that Mitsubishi revealed in July as its entrant into the Asia Cross Country Rally.Digital artist, Thanos Pappas, imagined what a Triton Ralliart might look like in digital renderings for CarsGuide back in July.The render shows it with approximately 50mm of additional ground clearance over the regular model thanks to new coil springs, higher-end dampers, thick all-terrain tyres and smaller off-road wheels.There’s an underbody skid plate integrated into the front bumper, while exterior and interior Ralliart badging would be a given.If we don’t see a Triton Ralliart, the alternative option could very well be our own special-edition Pajero Sport Ralliart – if not both.We know Mitsubishi is working on a new large SUV “halo” model, which is possibly the next-generation Pajero Sport. The current model debuted in 2015. Equally, it could be an all-new Pjero.The news was previously revealed to CarsGuide by Shaun Westcott.“I cannot tell you what it is, what it looks like, what the powertrain is, whether there’s a ladder frame, whether there’s monocoque. I cannot give you any of that information other than to say that Mitsubishi has announced that we are working on a large SUV,” he said."I have put up my hand and said we would love to have one because it's a very valuable nameplate, because it is a fantastic product, because it's a halo product.”To us that suggests a LandCruiser 300 Series and Nissan Y62 Patrol rival could very well be in the works, probably for a 2026 release at the earliest.For now, though, only time will tell.

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