From Honda and Toyota, to Nissan, Subaru, and Mazda, there are plenty of Japanese automakers to choose from in the U.S., plus the first three of those brands have luxury divisions as well – Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti, respectively. But there’s another Japanese car company out there, one that’s flown under the radar for several decades, though this is starting to change as more and more motorists take note.
An Under-The-Radar Japanese Brand
Have you heard of Mitsubishi? This automaker’s been around for ages, but it’s not necessarily a household name like many of its rivals. Tongue-in-cheek questions aside, the triple-diamond brand just published its first-quarter sales, and there’s a lot to be excited about.
Deliveries for the first three months of 2025 increased by 11 percent compared to the same period last year, totaling 31,637 units. Unfortunately, the automaker does not appear to share monthly sales, just totals for each quarter. That’s a far cry from the number of vehicles sold by Honda or even Mazda during the same time period, but growth is growth no matter what the total is.
Mitsubishi’s top seller in the U.S. continues to be the Outlander SUV, which racked up 11,992 sales for the quarter. The fuel-sipping plug-in hybrid model accounted for more than 1,700 of Mitsubishi’s deliveries, a year-over-year increase of 12 percent.
- Mitsubishi’s first-quarter deliveries increased 11 percent
- The Outlander SUV was the brand’s top-selling nameplate
- Surprisingly, the discontinued Mirage small car landed in the No. 2 spot
Aside from the Outlander range, Mitsubishi also offers the smaller Outlander Sport, the Eclipse Cross utility vehicle, and the Mirage small car, though this vehicle was discontinued last year, so dealers are still selling off leftover inventory.
For the first quarter of 2025, the Outlander Sport accounted for 6,910 of Mitsubishi’s total U.S. sales, and the Eclipse Cross racked up 3,731 deliveries. But the real outlier here is probably the Mirage. Production ended in 2024, but dealers still sold 7,301 copies of the little bugger from January through the end of March. That’s a huge increase compared to the 5,003 delivered during the same time period last year, a jump of around 46 percent. In fact, despite being something of a zombie nameplate – you know, since it’s no longer being built – the Mirage was Mitsubishi’s second-best-selling model.
Momentum 2030
In the U.S., Mitsubishi has been struggling for literally decades. Slowly but surely, though, the brand appears to be reversing its fortunes. First-quarter sales are up, which is always good news, and the company has a turnaround strategy in place.
The Momentum 2030 five-year business plan for North America emphasizes building more electrified vehicles – hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and pure EVs – aims to debut a “completely refreshed vehicle” each fiscal year between 2026 and 2030, and the plan calls for increasing technology and innovation, but that’s not all.
Additionally, there’s a push to open additional retail locations, something that’s happening right now. More and more dealer groups across the country are taking on Mitsubishi franchises. For instance, several new locations are scheduled to open in Michigan soon, part of the LaFontaine Automotive Group network of dealerships.
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