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Thread: Why was there no 2016 model year Mirage in North America?

  1. #11
    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Top_Fuel View Post
    Just out of curiosity...

    How long did Mitsubishi build 2015 Mirages? My 2015 ES was built in October, 2015. I assume that was near the end of the production run before they started building 2017s?
    Lol...my 2015 ES was built in September, 2014.



  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    Traditionally in North America, next year's model shows up in the fall (eg. Sept-Sept cycle). Mirage has not followed this pattern AT ALL. (Neither has the competing Nissan Micra in Canada.)

    Anybody have any theories?

    - Possibly to prop up the resale value of the 2015 model, since it had a longer than normal run before a replacement showed up (through to March of 2016)?

    - The 2017 model year is having a similarly long run before its replacement shows up.

    ---

    In Canada, Nissan played similarly strange model year shenanigans with the competing Micra: initially introduced in April 2014 as a 2015 model, the 2016 Micra wasn't released until March of 2016. That's a TWO YEAR run (minus 1 month) for the 2015 model year!

    In many countries outside of N.A., cars are sold by calendar year (date of manufacture, I assume), not arbitrary "model years".
    I wonder if the process they use to allocate which cars go to which countries has any relevance here? I've read that the very best Mirages go to Japan. The Mirages that go to the US have push-start buttons instead of ignition keys.

    Here in Canada, we only get the regular ignition key units. I am starting to wonder if Canada is the dumping ground for their "lesser" models?

    For example, I would be very surprised if the rear axle alignment issue even exists in Japan....

  3. #13
    Moderator Eggman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kevhaw View Post
    The Mirages that go to the US have push-start buttons instead of ignition keys.
    Interesting point. The US market got key ignitions for 2014-2015.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 49.6 mpg (US) ... 21.1 km/L ... 4.7 L/100 km ... 59.5 mpg (Imp)


  4. #14
    Senior Member Top_Fuel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cobrajet View Post
    ...my 2015 ES was built in September, 2014.
    Guess it was a really long production year...

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2015 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 52.2 mpg (US) ... 22.2 km/L ... 4.5 L/100 km ... 62.6 mpg (Imp)


  5. #15
    Member BillThompsonMirage-ES-CVT's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Eggman View Post
    Interesting point. The US market got key ignitions for 2014-2015.
    The 14/15 US Mirages had key ignition for the DE model and push button ignition for the ES model.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 automatic: 40.4 mpg (US) ... 17.2 km/L ... 5.8 L/100 km ... 48.6 mpg (Imp)


  6. #16
    I wonder what kind of "official" answer Mitsu would give to this question. I'll email the PR manager next week and see if he has any comment.

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


  7. #17
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    http://blog.caranddriver.com/mitsubi...ll-rise-again/

    Car and Driver, not a fan favorite of our car, suggests its a financial issue related to federalization costs. The car is actually selling well for Mitsu, and this type of move would be perfectly in line with financial considerations. Extend the 2015 run, and have a super early ''2017''.

  8. #18
    Senior Member Wallythacker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MetroMPG View Post
    Here's a related question...

    Why did the Mirage skip the 2016 model year in the US & Canada? Was that the same all over the world?

    (I feel like we might have a thread about this already. Going to check...)
    I think I can answer the mystery of 2016. Back in the day if Ford produced too many cars for the US market they boxed them up and those cars met or exceeded the required safety standards of the foreign country they were shipped to.

    As we've seen there's so many variants of the Mirage for various countries it's almost impossible to keep track of them all. It's safe to say a Mirage built for America won't meet the standards of a Mirage built for Thailand. Or, if it's not a question of standards, then features or options will make the US car unacceptable anywhere else.

    Mitsu built far too many cars for NA in the 2014 model year so they decided to skip years knowing they had more than enough brand new 2014s to meet demand for 2015 & 2016.

    How else do you explain me being able to buy a brand new 2014 SE (build date Sept 2013) in October of 2016? My car had 53 miles on it, was sold as brand new, NOT a demo or manager's car and my warranty started the day I took possesion. There were 4 other brand new SEs for sale, all had the same options and were the same $9,995. About a month later while I was cruising the auto ads, surprise!!, there are more brand new 2014 SEs for sale again @ $9,995 from the same Ottawa area dealer.

    This is just one dealer that somehow had 10 brand new 2014 SE Mirages for sale in late 2016. What are Canadian Mirage sales by month? Something like 100? (I'll look it up later) So this one dealer in a secondary market accounted for 10% of all Canadian Mirage sales for a month, or maybe more?
    Zero, 2014 ES Plus 5MT, written off but not forgotten.
    Zero II, 2014 SE, 5MT, climate She's HOME now!
    Shelby AKA "Cute", 2017 ES 5MT, A/C.

    Mirage owners look at the world differently than everyone else, but in a better way
    We're driving the Beetle of the 21st century, the greatest small car now available!

        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2017 Mirage ES PLus 1.2 manual: 39.0 mpg (US) ... 16.6 km/L ... 6.0 L/100 km ... 46.8 mpg (Imp)


  9. #19
    Senior Member Cobrajet's Avatar
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    I thought they only skipped the '16 MY in North America. Personally, I believe that the Mirage was selling far beyond Mitsubishi's expectations, so they decided to do a impromptu quickie refresh to address some of the criticisms the car was getting.

    Rather than try to get this refresh crash certified as a 2016 model, Mitsubishi decided to skip the 2016 model year and introduce the car in the spring of 2016 as a 2017 model.

    It was a cost-saving measure.

    Oh, and my 2015 Mirage was built in September of 2014. I bought it in December.

  10. #20
    I'd be extremely surprised if they had to submit the facelifted 2017 car to further crash testing. It was just new bumper skins! I doubt any structural changes happened.

    They would have had to put the revised engine through EPA testing though.


        __________________________________________

        click to view fuel log View my fuel log 2014 Mirage ES 1.2 manual: 63.2 mpg (US) ... 26.9 km/L ... 3.7 L/100 km ... 75.9 mpg (Imp)


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