2004 Mitsubishi Galant Es Sedan 4-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Junkyard Gem: 1989 Plymouth Colt E Hatchback

By the late 1960s, it had became clear to the suits at Detroit's Big Three that their companies needed to start selling subcompacts at home or risk losing large hunks of market share to the likes of Volkswagen and Toyota. Ford and GM developed the Pinto and Vega, but the much smaller Chrysler Corporation couldn't afford such an investment. Instead, the Chrysler Europe-built Hillman Avenger and Simca 1100 crossed the Atlantic and were given Plymouth Cricket and Simca 1204 badges, respectively, while ships full of Mitsubishi Colt Galants with Dodge badges headed east out of Japan. Those were Dodge Colts, sales of which began here in the 1971 model year. The Cricket and 1204 faded into well-deserved obscurity, but American car shoppers loved the Hemi-powered Colt. The Plymouth Division eventually got Colts of its own, and that's what we've got for today's Junkyard Gem. The US-market Colt jumped to the front-wheel-drive Mitsubishi Mirage for the 1979 model year, and that's when North American Plymouth dealerships (which had already been selling the Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste as the Arrow) got their own Mirages to sell. For 1979 through 1982, the Plymouth-badged Colt twin was known as the Champ, after which Chrysler decided that distinction just confused everybody. Then both Dodge and Plymouth (plus, starting in 1989, Eagle) offered near-identical Colts until just before the 1994 introduction of the Michigan-designed Neon. 1989 was the first model year for the more rounded sixth-generation Colt. By the time this car appeared in a showroom, Mitsubishi had been selling Mirages here for six years; this meant that American cars shoppers could choose among four mechanically-identical versions of the same car: the Dodge Colt, the Plymouth Colt, the Eagle Summit, and the Mitsubishi Mirage. All four versions had similar pricing, so it really came down to which badge you liked best and/or which company was offering the best rebates and financing deals at any given moment. The cheapest 1989 Plymouth Colt three-door hatch listed at $6,678 (about $16,340 in 2022 dollars), while the Dodge version cost… exactly the same amount. If you insisted on a sedan, however, you had to get the Summit or Mirage, because the Colt was available only in hatchback form for 1989. Meanwhile, Chrysler had been selling the Simca-derived Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon in the United States since the 1978 model year, with sales continuing all the way through 1990.

2014 Mitsubishi Outlander unveiled with new look, standard seating for seven

The 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander wears the new face previewed at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this year, and adds a host of features on top of its seven standard chairs. Ditching the shark-nosed Lancer-inspired front has reduced drag, increased use of high-tensile steel means a 200-pound weight loss and the reworked 2.4-liter four-cylinder paired a CVT will all result in what Mitsubishi says is one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in the seven-passenger segment. Looks-wise, around the rest of the vehicle come sharper sculpting and more character lines.
Reaching higher inside, the IP is now soft-touch, and a heavily restyled interior with woodgrain accents is more somber, but more elegant. Mod-cons have gone up a step, too: the 2014 Outlander getting a next-generation nav system, a power tailgate that can be opened from the driver's seat and safety tech like Lane Departure Warning.
There's a press release below with more info, and high-res shots from the LA Auto Show floor above.

Toyota, Mazda drop Takata as Mitsubishi, Subaru weigh options

It's not a very good time to be Takata right now. Fresh on the heels of longtime partner Honda ditching them, Toyota and Mazda have both come out and said they will not use the company's airbag inflators if they continue to rely on ammonium nitrate. Bloomberg reports that Subaru and Mitsubishi are also contemplating a divorce. "The inflator using ammonium nitrate produced by Takata will not be adopted by Toyota," President Akio Toyoda said during a briefing today. "What's most important above anything else is the safety and peace of mind of customers." Mazda echoed that position, simply saying it "will not use Takata airbag inflators which contain ammonium nitrate in our new cars." When you lose three huge OEM accounts in as many days, it's certainly going to have a deleterious effect on your fortunes. In Takata's case, that's meant a staggering 39-percent drop in their share price over the last three days. Yesterday alone, the company saw a 6.2-percent fall, Bloomberg reports. As the business publication reports, though, Takata isn't going down without a fight. The company is "considering some plans to survive," including a fundraising plan that will see it potentially offer up additional shares for sale. Still, at least one analyst doesn't see whatever company survives staying involved in the airbag inflator business. "I really don't see how they're going to be able to survive as an inflator manufacturer," Valient Market Research founder Scott Upham told Bloomberg. "When your major clients publicly come out and say that they're not going to use your products anymore, it makes this very difficult to sustain your business." News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Carlos Osorio / AP Honda Mazda Mitsubishi Subaru Toyota Safety supplier