Most manufacturers offer "unicorns" on their sites. Ever try to buy a Prius C1? Or a stripper 5-speed Versa S sedan?
Chrysler made the mistake of heavily advertising stripper K-cars back in 1981...and then not building any. People eager to spend $5,900 on a base model Reliant went to the dealerships only to find nothing but $7,700 versions with velour seats, power windows, air conditioning, and fake wire wheel covers. This really hurt K-car sales early on.
But Chrysler quickly adjusted. They started producing the base models, and people flocked to the dealerships. My point is simply that there was an under-served market of frugal used car buyers shopping below the price of the 2014 DE, and Mitsubishi might have done well to cater to that market with a de-contented version of the Mirage. Nissan did this with the Versa sedan, undercutting the price of the Mirage. Even if the Versa S stripper was a unicorn it brought people into the dealership.
We still have people here b!tching about the fact that power windows and AC are requirements!