Thursday’s reports from Japan have Mitsubishi upping production of its global four-cylinder engines by more than a third. By the fall of 2009, Japan’s fourth-biggest vehicle manufacturer will produce 385,000 powerplants annually.
About 9 billion yen ($83.4 million) will be spent on the company’s Shiga Prefecture plant to achieve this increase in capacity, according to Japan’s Nikkei daily newspaper.
The all-aluminum engines are primarily used to power Mitsubishi’s Lancer sedan and Outlander SUV that are exported globally. The 2.4-liter inline-four is used Stateside in the Outlander, while a 2.0 liter four powers all naturally aspirated Lancers here. A 1.8 liter engine is used in other markets. All three were developed in conjunction with Daimler and Hyundai, and a version of the 2.4 powers the Dodge Caliber.
06/12, 1:36 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
Hyundai and Mitsu tuned those engines well, and have to love the weight savings from aluminum engines. This is not really news, with 4 cylinder sales on the rise, this makes sense.
06/12, 1:36 PM
posted by:
JoshyLofty
they’re the 4th largest Japanese automaker? wasn’t it like 4 years ago Mitsubishi was facing distinction? i know i didn’t dream it.
But its all good, i do love me some mitsubishi.
06/12, 2:15 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
Joshy, Mitsu a few years ago was saying that if sales did not pick up here in the States they would leave this market.
06/12, 2:24 PM
posted by:
xyunya
Mitsubishi was dying in Japan as well, plagued by quality reports manipulation and demise of CEO as a result.
06/12, 2:38 PM
posted by:
Jordan
i actually like mitsu. the lancer’s great, the outlander’s great, and i still like the looks of the endeavor. the eclipse is a little fat though, and the raider’s a waste of time.
06/12, 2:57 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
You forgot the Galant which is garbage.
06/12, 3:01 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
I really miss those old Mitsu engines, you know the ones in ’80s and ’90s Chrysler products that puked enough smoke when the light turned green to make you think you were behind a turn 2 wreck in a NASCAR race.
06/12, 4:02 PM
posted by:
nickkop
when is their 2.2 clean turbodiesel coming?
06/12, 4:05 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
Not soon enough nickkop.
06/12, 5:46 PM
posted by:
1c3d0g
Agreed. They better offer some Diesel powerplants soon for the rest of us…
06/12, 5:54 PM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
Well, since the Accord and the Maxima are getting diesels, I guess Mistubishi will jump on the bandwagon too, only Japanese company not working on diesels heavily is Toyota. Even Subaru showed that boxer diesel that will come here eventually.
06/12, 7:22 PM
posted by:
brassmonkey
Mitsubishi is still around? I thought they dwindled away like Isuzu.
06/14, 12:21 AM
posted by:
nickkop
almost, but then in frantic times they found enough modivation (balls) enough to bring the evo here, and minimally (with financially restrictions clearly) updated the rest of the line to match, now this would be much improved apon with pushing some of their more realistic concepts toward production as quickly as possible, while keeping only quality control as a higher priority
06/14, 12:21 AM
posted by:
nickkop
motivation**
06/14, 12:24 AM
posted by:
nickkop
let me repost that with corrections:
brassmonkey:
almost was true, but then in frantic times they found enough motivation (balls) to bring the evo here, and minimally (with financial restrictions clearly) updated the rest of the line to match. This would be much improved upon by pushing some of the more realistic of their recent concepts toward production as quickly as possible, while keeping only quality control as a higher priority.
06/14, 4:07 AM
posted by:
NoNameDenton1
The Galant does not hld up to that theory, it is still a piece of garbage.