After 22 years the once popular Mitsubishi Eclipse is dead, but it may not be dead for long. Greg Adams, Mitsubishi Motors North America’s vice president-marketing and product planning, recently stated to Ward’s Auto that the Eclipse “always comes back around sooner or later.”
Does that mean that we could see a new Eclipse in the near future? Nothing has been confirmed. The Eclipse competes in a category that has “peaked” according to Adams. In order for a new Eclipse to get the green light a business case must be approved, which also means that “there needs to be sufficient market demand.” In 2002 Mitsubishi sold 72,040 Eclipses, but through August of this year only 6,721 units were sold.
The Eclipse was launched in 1989 and Mitsubishi sold 982,024 units in the U.S. since it was released.
Mitsubishi is also slated to discontinue the production of the Galant midsize sedan at its Normal, Illinois plant before 2013. There is a possibility for a replacement…
