The Two Slowest-Selling New Cars In the U.S. Are the Mitsubishi Outlander and Eclipse Cross
One does not merely slap the name of an iconic sports car on a crossover and expect it to print money.
The fact that Mitsubishi is struggling in the United States is news that's old enough to drive at this point, but an even more depressing data point is just how long two of Mitsubishi's core models sit on the lot. The Mitsubishi Outlander is the slowest-selling new vehicle in the U.S., followed closely by the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross, according to a study by iSeeCars.
Both take roughly twice the time that it takes the average new vehicle in the United States to sell. The average new car moves off the lot in 96.9 days, whereas it takes an average of 197.7 days to sell an Outlander and 187.7 days to move an Eclipse Cross. Ouch.
According to iSeeCars, the Outlander had a 76 percent drop in sales in the second quarter of 2020 from where it was in 2019. On paper, you'd think it would be doing a bit better than this. It's one of the least expensive three-row SUVs out there. However, it's also going on its second refresh of the same third-generation Outlander that's been out since 2012, and the numbers point to the fact that there just isn't any demand left for that.
It would be easy to assume that Mitsubishi just needs some new products on the showroom if it weren't for the second slowest seller in the U.S., the Eclipse Cross. The Eclipse Cross came out to much fanfare in 2018 as part of Mitsubishi's plan to double-down on crossovers on the assumption that crossovers were what people wanted right now. They still do—just not this one.
Clearly, naming the Eclipse Cross crossover after a beloved discontinued sports car didn't help—all that really did was anger the brand's fans, who then promptly forgot about it like everyone else. At the end of the day, you still have to have a compelling product to sell. "Finally, Mitsubishi made a new car" doesn't cut it.
According to Carscoops, the iSeeCars study surveyed some 4.4 million new and used vehicle sales between March and June 2020 in the United States. Pandemic-related shortages and delays have clearly played into the rankings, though. The Chevrolet Trailblazer spends the least time on a dealership lot at an average of just 19 days, which is the direct result of plant closures and parts shortages limiting dealership inventory.
Both the Eclipse Cross and Outlander are compact crossovers, and without any kind of technology-forward halo car to point to anymore, Mitsubishi has fallen into this weird reputation hole as a bargain-basement automaker that doesn't seem likely to stick around the U.S. As long as ultra-cheap Mirage sales are still doing okay, though, maybe there's a chance.
[H/T Motor Illustrated via r/cars!]
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