2001 Mitsubishi Galant Es Sedan 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Japan calls Ghosn's escape inexcusable and vows tighter immigration checks

TOKYO — Japan's justice minister on Sunday called the flight of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn as he awaited trial on financial misconduct charges inexcusable and vowed to beef up immigration checks. Justice Minister Masako Mori said she had ordered an investigation after Ghosn issued a statement a few days ago saying he was in Lebanon. She said there were no records of Ghosn's departure from Tokyo. She said his bail has been revoked, and Interpol had issued a wanted notice. Departure checks needed to be strengthened to prevent a recurrence, Mori said. While expressing deep regret over what had happened, Mori stopped short of outlining any specific action Japan might take to get Ghosn back. Japan does not have an extradition treaty with Lebanon. “Our nationÂ’s criminal justice system protects the basic human rights of an individual and properly carries out appropriate procedures to disclose the truth of various cases, and the flight of a suspect while out on bail is never justified,” she said in a statement. MoriÂ’s statement was the first public comment by a Japanese government official after the stunning escape of Ghosn, once a superstar of the auto industry. Tokyo prosecutors issued a similar statement Sunday. They had opposed Ghosn's release on bail, arguing he was a flight risk. First arrested in November 2018, Ghosn was out on bail over the last several months, and more recently had moved into a home in an upscale part of Tokyo. He has repeatedly said he was innocent. His statement from Beirut said he was escaping injustice. Japan's justice system has come under fire from human rights advocates for its long detentions, the reliance on confessions and prolonged trials. The conviction rate is higher than 99%. Even if Ghosn had been found innocent, the prosecutors could have appealed, and the appeals process could have lasted years. Ghosn's trial was not expected to start until April at the earliest. During that time, he had been prohibited from seeing his wife, and was only allowed a couple of video calls in the presence of a lawyer. Ghosn had been charged with underreporting his future compensation and breach of trust in diverting Nissan money for his personal gain. Although the details of his escape are not yet clear, Turkish airline company MNG Jet has said two of its planes were used illegally, first flying him from Osaka, Japan, to Istanbul, and then on to Beirut, where he arrived Monday and has not been seen since.

2014 Mitsubishi Mirage

This could have been something great. Last fall, Mitsubishi slapped its triple-diamond badge on a dainty little hatchback called Mirage, offering plenty of functionality and 44 miles per gallon on the highway, all starting at a super-low $12,995. For budget shoppers, this seemed to be a good thing - not to mention a much-needed breath of fresh air for the company's waning US automotive arm.
I will fully admit to being a bit harsh on the Mirage following its debut at the 2013 New York Auto Show, often making it the butt of jokes with my colleagues. But at the end of the day, I love cheap, basic, honest little cars like this, and I wasn't prepared to write off the Mirage until I spent some time behind the wheel. After all, on paper, a Mazda2 looks pretty unremarkable, and yet it's one of my favorite small cars to drive.
Much as I wasn't looking forward to putting my foot in my mouth, I was sort of hoping to feel the same way about the new Mirage. It's a bland package, but it could have been filled with the same spunky spirit and well-meaning composure of vehicles like the aforementioned Mazda, or even stuff like the Honda Fit or Chevy Spark and Sonic.

Junkyard Gem: 2007 Mitsubishi Galant Ralliart

We began getting Mitsubishi Galants here way back in the 1971 model year, when the Colt Galant showed up bearing Dodge Colt badges. Mitsubishi didn't start selling cars with its own badging in North America until the 1983 model year, and the first Mitsubishi-badged Galants showed up on our shores as 1985 models. When the ninth and final generation of Galant appeared for 2004, it was a generic-looking Camry rival, enlarged and priced attractively but otherwise not very interesting. Then, for 2007, a sporty Ralliart version showed up. Here's one of those rare cars, found in a snowy Colorado self-service yard recently. Ralliart is the racing and performance division of Mitsubishi Motors, and I've managed to find a few Lancer Ralliarts during my junkyard travels. I'd forgotten the existence of the Galant Ralliart, I must admit, so at first glance I took this car to be an ordinary Galant with Lancer Ralliart badges pasted on. Unlike the Suzuki Works Techno badges found on Aerios and Renos of the era, these Ralliart emblems really did indicate a quicker-than-the-base-model car. The '07 Galant Ralliart got a 258-horsepower V6 and a stiffer suspension, plus a few styling touches. It certainly would have been more fun than a new Camry, though the Mazdaspeed6 was quicker. Even the soporific Camry could still be bought with a manual transmission in 2007, but not the Galant. All the US-market 2004-2012 Galants (which were built in Illinois) came with automatic transmissions. The Galant managed to hang on until 2012, by which time it had been largely forgotten by American car shoppers. That's too bad, because the gadget-packed Galant Sigma four-door hardtops of the late 1980s and screaming Galant VR-4s of a bit later were interesting machines. I still haven't found a junked VR-4, though I have spotted a discarded Galant GS-X. This one lived fast and died young-ish. Perhaps someone will grab that 6G75 engine to swap into a Chrysler K-Car. We can hope. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Hop in. It's go time! This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Taiwanese car shoppers could buy this car as the Grunder. The real gone cats preferred the Grunder Police Interceptor, of course.