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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.

Fiat taps Mitsubishi for European pickup

Mitsubishi is often derided in the US for its relatively boring lineup, Lancer Evolution aside, but the company is on the upswing worldwide, recently posting record global operating profits. The Japanese automaker may get a further boost in the near future from a rumored pickup truck deal with Fiat.
According to insider sources speaking to Automotive News Europe, Mitsubishi would reportedly build a variant of its widely respected L200 pickup truck for the Fiat Professional brand in Europe and Latin America starting in 2016. The L200 is larger than the Fiat Strada front-wheel-drive pickup already available in those markets, and it's available in rear- and four-wheel-drive configurations. The idea of adding a midsize truck to the commercial lineup was in the Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles five-year plan, but it didn't include any mention of a partnership to build it.
At first blush, the Mitsubishi agreement seems like an odd move, given that Fiat already owns pickup truck specialists Ram. However, according to ANE, the company had at one time planned to use a version of a new Dodge Dakota pickup for duty in Europe and Latin America, but the model never came to fruition.

Mitsubishi Mirage hatch and sedan refresh teased

Almost every Mitsubishi model sold in the U.S. wears the automaker's "Dynamic Shield" design. The corporate face combines a two-piece grille emphasizing the horizontal with slim, angled headlights supported by a thick, C-shaped trim piece that defines the fog lights and lower intakes. The only holdouts are the Mirage hatchback and Mirage G4 sedan, but that will soon change. Mitsubishi teased a dim image of two Mirages that had earned their Dynamic Shields, and promised a debut on November 18 in Thailand. The reveal location gives a shout-out to the Laem Chabang plant that, along with another facility in the Philippines, builds the siblings. It's easy to forget about Mitsu's tiny twosome, but it's hard to deny they've served the company well as global offerings. In the U.S., the duo has increased its annual sales every year since the car's introduction in 2013. Around the world in fiscal 2018 the Japanese automaker sold 140,000 units, and sales through the end of October in the U.S. show the Mirage nearly 10 percent ahead of last year's sales at the same period. Assuming the cheap-as-chips price equation doesn't get a heavy refresh, there's every reason to think the facelift will aid sales. The hatch and sedan wear two different faces at the moment, both graduates of the most mediocre school of ambiguous econoboxes. The teased image puts a personality on economy, with large, single lenses peeking out from a narrow eyeline above the Dynamic Shield's sculpted features. It appears designers have done a touch of reshaping in back as well, and there's a wee spoiler hanging off the back of the decklid. No word on what might be in store for the two three-cylinder engines sold in international markets, a 1.0-liter that makes 70 horsepower and 65 pound-feet of torque, and the 1.2-liter that's our only choice here, making 78 hp and 74 lb-ft. The fuel filler cap has moved from the driver's side to the passenger's side, though, so there could be action under the skin, and we'd expect a few interior upgrades, too.