Mitsubishi Actually Turns A Profit In North America

2015 Mitsubishi Lancer (Credit: Mitsubishi)

Strange things have been going on in the automotive market lately. Chinese cars are coming. Toyota has taken on more of a bad boy image. Mitsubishi is actually making a profit again.

Sadly, for the past seven years, or since 2008, Mitsubishi has been in freefall when it comes to the North American market. The automaker’s been in the red. Things have looked dire as few product launches have happened during that time, the Evolution has been declared dead, and the company has pinned its hopes and dreams on the Outlander.

According to a Report from Automotive News, Mitsubishi made $4.18 million during the first quarter of 2015. It’s not a big amount by any means, especially when compared to Avengers: Age of Ultron profits for opening weekend in Montana alone, but it’s something.

For January through March of 2015, Mitsubishi reported that its profits were up by 19 percent when compared to the same period in 2014. The company actually moved 32,000 vehicles during those three months. Compare that to the 117,000 vehicles it sold during all of 2014. Hopes are high for 2015, with some projections begging the annual total at around 128,000 vehicles, giving the automaker about $58.5 million in profits.

One of the cars that’s fueling this growth is the Mirage, a model that’s been roundly dismissed by reviewers as just plain horrible in just about every way. The Lancer isn’t all that exciting either, plus looks and feels dated compared to other cars in its class. Expect that things will continue to look up for Mitsubishi, even though the Evo won’t be around, simply because it’s releasing a new Outlander and possibly the successor to the Montero.

Amazingly, for now Mitsubishi seems to be bucking the trend and not going the way of Suzuki in the United States.