Mitsubishi back from the dead!!!

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Free gas -- that's one way to fill up a showroom. And that's just the come-on Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has been using in the U.S. since late September. Buy a Mitsubishi, get free gas for a year. "It has energized the entire dealer organization," says Dave Schembri, an executive vice-president at Mitsubishi Motors' U.S. subsidiary in Cypress, Calif.

Gas Comes Standard [the name of the Mitsubishi promotion] is one of the latest signs of life at a carmaker long left for dead. Although much smaller than General Motors Corp. (GM) or Ford Motor Corp. (F), Japan's Mitsubishi, with annual sales of $18.5 billion, can match those big companies disaster for disaster. Sales in the U.S. and Japan, its two key markets, plummeted 30% in 2004 and the company posted a $4.7 billion loss for the year ended in March. That was more than its earnings for the past 15 years combined. Zero hit models meant zero profits. A meltdown seemed imminent as Mitsubishi burned through cash reserves and partner DaimlerChrysler (DCX) cut off fresh funds and reduced its stake from 37% to 12.9%..

Mitsubishi has some breathing room to refocus thanks to a $2.6 billion lifeline thrown to the company in January by other members of the Mitsubishi keiretsujunkyard. With that backing, Masuko has set the stage for repositioning Mitsubishi toward performance-oriented sedans, midsize SUVs, and trucks like the $19,180 Raider pickup, launched in September in the U.S. That six-seater, the only imported pickup in its class with an optional V8 engine, marks Mitsubishi's return to midsize trucks after a 10-year absence.

Masuko predicts Mitsubishi will be making a profit by the end of next year. But can it compete in the long term with rivals such as Honda Motor and Toyota Motor Corp. ™? "Mitsubishi has a lot of work to do to keep up with those [two]," says George Brue, general sales manager at Rick Case Mitsubishi in Roswell, Ga. But free gas should help.