2003 Mitsubishi Galant Es Sedan 4-door 2.4l * Only 36k Miles! One Owner! on 2040-cars

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Mitsubishi reports an 89% drop in annual profit

TOKYO — Mitsubishi will focus on cutting fixed costs by 20% or more in the next two years after reporting an 89% drop in annual profit, its weakest performance in three years, and skipping its year-end dividend. The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated Mitsubishi's struggles in a year where Japan's sixth biggest carmaker was already battling falling sales in China and also southeast Asia, its largest market which accounts for one-quarter of sales. Mitsubishi also said on Tuesday it would focus on growth in ASEAN countries to survive the aftermath of the pandemic. "Before the virus we had been mulling which underperforming regions and vehicle segments to cut our exposure to," CEO Takao Kato told a results teleconference. "In the wake of the virus, we need to pick up the pace of making these changes. To stay competitive in a post-coronavirus market, we need to immediately shrink our area of focus to regions and segments in which we excel." Global automakers are struggling to cope with the crisis, which has pummeled car sales due to lockdowns in many countries. Many automakers have begun to restart vehicle factories, but anemic demand, supply chain disruptions and social distancing measures at factories are expected to limit output. Mitsubishi's operating profit came in at 12.8 billion yen ($119.21 million) for the year to end March, down from 111.8 billion yen a year ago, and its lowest since the year to end March 2017. Profits exceeded a consensus estimate of 9.4 billion yen profit drawn from 15 analysts polled by Refinitiv. The automaker did not give an earnings forecast for the current business year, and did not issue a year-end dividend, compared with 10 yen per share a year ago. The junior member of the automaking partnership between Nissan and France's Renault, sold 1.13 million vehicles globally in the year ended March, down 9%. Mitsubishi will focus on growth in southeast Asia as part of the alliance's plan for each company to expand in their regions of strength. Mitsubishi said it would give more details when it reports first-quarter results. The alliance is expected to announce a revamped strategy on May 27, when it will pledge to increase cooperation to improve joint operations to remain competitive. Related Video:

Weekly Recap: Toyota wants cars to be your 'close friends' around 2020

Toyota confirmed plans this week to launch autonomous technology in its production cars around 2020. The automaker's version is called Highway Teammate, and it's one element of a broader mobility strategy that includes vehicles communicating with each other and the grid. "Toyota believes that interactions between drivers and cars should mirror those between close friends who share a common purpose, sometimes watching over each other and sometimes helping each other out," the company said in a statement. That sounds utopian, and perhaps a bit cheesy, but it's an acknowledgment that autonomous driving requires more than technology developed in a vacuum. Toyota is looking at its research in a broader context, and dubs its overall strategy the Mobility Teammate Concept. Highway Teammate is the first step. Its test vehicle is a modified Lexus GS, which uses road-mapping data and external sensors to merge or exit highways, change lanes, and maintain safe distances during driving. It's operated on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Toyota has been working on autonomous tech since the 1990s, with the goal of providing mobility for older people and the disabled, as well as lowering the frequency of traffic accidents. Toyota's push comes as an early adopter, Nissan, is hedging on its own deadline to implement the autonomous tech by 2020 due to a lack of firm laws governing self-driving cars around the world. Conversely, Volvo took the landmark step of being the first automaker to accept liability for when its cars will operate in autonomous mode, and urged the US government to set federal guidelines to regulate the technology. OTHER NEWS & NOTES 2016 BMW M4 GTS: Your water-injected, turbo-boosted demon BMW is unleashing its most powerful M4 ever, a 493-horsepower special edition that's road legal yet bred for the track. The company is making 700 copies for sale around the world, and 300 of them will come to the United States. The twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter six-cylinder revs to 7,600 rpm and uses a water-injection technology to cool the intake air and lower the compression temperature. BMW says this allows it to wring more power out of the inline six. The car also uses carbon-fiber reinforced plastic for the roof, hood, engine compartment strut brace, drive shaft, and rear spoiler to reduce weight. The M4 features BMW's organic light-emitting diode taillights, which are said to be an industry first.

9,800-mile 2006 Mitsubishi Evo IX MR likely to set a record on Bring a Trailer

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution may be gone from the U.S. market, but it is not forgotten. And it's clear that for some fans, the passion for the rally-inspired Mitsu burns as brightly as ever. We saw that a delivery-miles example can crack the six-figure mark, when this 2006 Evo IX MR with 9 miles on the clock fetched just shy of $138k on eBay. Now, it looks like we're about to find out how high is up for a driven but still low-miles car — with 9,800 miles on the odometer — as this pristine 2006 Lancer Evolution IX MR on Bring a Trailer has already garnered bids of $35k with six days still to go. The BaT car is the same year and model as the $138k eBay example. It features the SE appearance package and is finished in Apex Silver Metallic. The MR trim level included an aluminum roof panel (with vortex generators at the trailing edge), HID headlamps, and auxiliary gauges, and aluminum trim inside. The SE appearance package featured a revised front spoiler, dark-finish BBS wheels, and red contrast stitching on the seats. The car, which is being sold by a dealer in Colorado Springs, appears to be unmodified. A 2006 Evo IX MR with 25,000 miles sold for $37,787 back in June on BaT, and a 2006 Evo IX SE with 4,000 miles brought $36,916 in October 2018. This car seems certain to smash those numbers. Featured Gallery 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX MR on BaT Mitsubishi Auctions Performance Classics Sedan