Mitsubishi News and Information

Just two years ago, once-proud Mitsubishi essentially was begging Americans to believe the car company wasn't on the verge of decamping from the USA.

"Absolutely not," said Mitsubishi President Tetsuro Aikawa, in Japan in February 2013, when asked if he would leave.

"I can assure you we have no intention of pulling out," executive vice president Masatoshi Hasegawa, told USA TODAY at the New York Auto Show a month later, as the automaker unveiled a new Mirage economy car.

Now, sales are up, an expanded lineup is in the works, and new optimism infuses the U.S. unit.

Mitsubishi still faces a climb. In 2002, U.S. sales peaked at 345,111 in the USA on a lineup of nine vehicles, according to Autodata. In 2014, despite sales up nearly 25% from 2013, Mitsu sales were just 77,643. And the company has just four vehicles (five if you count an electric good for just a few dozen a year), dominated by the Outlander Sport compact SUV.

Too, it has no midsize sedan entry in the biggest single sales segment. The brand's other models: Mirage subcompact sedan, Lancer compact, Outlander (a bigger SUV) and the much-panned electric car.

"They're basically starting all over again," says Matt DeLorenzo, managing editor for auto shopping site KBB.com and a veteran auto journalist.

The little three-cylinder Mirage, on sale September 2013, gives the company "a vehicle that was fairly fuel efficient and fairly inexpensive," De Lorenzo says. "It opened a segment at the low end of the market that's let them establish a toe-hold."

The 2015 Mirage starts at $13,805 including shipping, nearly $20,000 less than the average transaction price for a new vehicle in the USA last month. Mirage's combined mileage rating is 40 mpg for the automatic.

When it went on sale, gasoline averaged about $3.40 a gallon. Now it's about $2.17.That makes Mirage's mileage less a draw, but its low price remains a lure.

"Mitsubishi's recent success can be attributed to the sales of the Outlander and Outlander Sport, which are capitalizing on the fact that small SUVs are the hottest segment in the market right now," says Jessica Caldwell, senior analyst for car-shopping website Edmunds.com.

Compact SUVs were the most-researched category on Edmunds.com in January.

The Outlander Sport starts at $20,445 and its combined mileage rating is 28 mpg automatic.

"We have products that are hitting a need," says Mitsubishi's new public relations chief Alex Fedorak, an industry veteran.

He forecasts that this year Mitsubishi "will sustain the same sales pace as we did last year thanks to some model refreshes" — and the excitement generated by Mitsubishi's hot-looking concept cars at auto shows.

In January, Mitsubishi sold 33.6% more vehicles than it did the year before. That was the third-biggest percentage gain of any brand, Edmunds.com figures, behind only Jeep and Ram.

The sales jump is symbolic of Mitsubishi on the rise:

• Last week, Mitsubishi agreed to a joint venture with Nissan on a midsize sedan finally to replace the Galant, discontinued in 2012.

• Outlander Sport is winning kudos. Consumer Reports named it one of the three most-reliable SUVs you can buy. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave it the top crash rating.

• Mitsu now offers a more-powerful, 2.4-liter four-cylinder Outlander Sport, broadening its appeal and allowing a new top model, 2.4 GT, with a base price of $24,445, up $2,300 from the previous top.

• Its auto show concept vehicles hint at what could be a new Montero, a bigger SUV that it once sold. Large SUVs also are doing terrific business.

"The question is having a realistic expectation of what success looks like," says DeLorenzo. "They'll never be as big as Honda, let alone Mazda, but if they can get in the 100,000 to 150,000 range and make money, that'll work."