Mitsubushi 380 - only 951 cars delivered to customers in Oct

[SUVshopper]

[URL=http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,17142055%255E664,00.html]

Just wondering whether anyone from Melbourne has ordered a 380 and from which dealer?

[Smoked]

Thats a pitty. I hope for the sake of keeping a competative market they pick up.

[Dave_au]

Good to see the media is still magna bashing.

the car has only been "on sale" since 14 October

Not as bad as what the paper is suggesting.

Exactly. Awareness of the 380 is still not all that great so it still needs time.

[Josh_XC]

I heard there goin to recall most 380s becasue there passenger side window breaks when they close the door to hard. It was in the newspaper bout 1 week ago.

[bscampbell]

I've only seen one 380 out and about in Bendigo.
On a side note, I haven't seen one of the new Impreza's on the road yet...wonder why!?!
Actually I can't judge it yet because I haven't seen one in the flesh...

[OzJavelin]

Originally Posted by bscampbell

I've only seen one 380 out and about in Bendigo.

We must have seen the same one! I've only seen one white one in Bendigo .. a base-model one I think? For a "big" V6 it's exhaust note was very tinny and uninspiring

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Josh_XC

I heard there goin to recall most 380s becasue there passenger side window breaks when they close the door to hard. It was in the newspaper bout 1 week ago.

Thats a problem with the glass manufacturer. They have admitted fault on that. But I thought that it didn't effect any cars that were sold.

[AU-MUSTD]

Originally Posted by bscampbell

I've only seen one 380 out and about in Bendigo.
On a side note, I haven't seen one of the new Impreza's on the road yet...wonder why!?!
Actually I can't judge it yet because I haven't seen one in the flesh...

I've seen five but maybe i'm just biased and keep an eye out. The standard one looks better than the sti too. As for the magna l think in the flesh they are going to be in a bit of strife. Very uninspiring.

[buickman]

Originally Posted by bscampbell

I've only seen one 380 out and about in Bendigo.
On a side note, I haven't seen one of the new Impreza's on the road yet...wonder why!?!
Actually I can't judge it yet because I haven't seen one in the flesh...

I've actully seen a new Impreza on the Monash F/way. Weird looking from the front but the rear looks OK.

buickman

[PH47]

Seen 2 of the new WRX's out locally, but no 380's.. wouldnt mind seeing a 380 to make a real-life judgement on it's looks.. always find cars look diff than in pics..

[4.9 EF Futura]

Only seen 1 380 out on the streets and that's in adelaide CBD. Was a GT, looked quite nice.

[Josh_XC]

It was realeased yesterday that over 400 cars sold had the glass fault and will have to be recaled in the future. I know a person in wagga who bought a 380 and has broken the glass on the passenger door.

Unfortunate thing for mitsubishi considering this car was halled to bring them back into competition with ford and holden.

[supa eb]

I saw the police commissioner of WA in a 380 last week. Didn't look too bad at all. Had what looked like a pretty luxurious leather trim on closer inspection. Still had South Australian plates on it though, so it may still be owned by Mitsubishi.

[fatxagt]

I saw a 380GT in here in Cairns, was a gun metal grey color with dark windows. I was supprised at what a great looking car it was. Shame its a FWD. I still dont think it deserves a GT badge.

[SuperMono]

I've seen 4 380s, but three were at airports on display, only 1 on the road.
Looks better in the flesh than the print and TV images I've seen.
Didn't look inside, hopefully up to date.

Broken glass, what do you expect when you haven't setup an accelerated duribility test program yet (well, as far as I'm aware).

[Abacus]

I would love to see a more competitive market, but I don't think the 380 is going to do it. Its FWD and that's the end of the argument. Toyota couldn't do it with the Avalon which, despite its plain-Jane styling and non-involving drive, is very well built, and a better car than the 380 is ever likely to be. I can't see Mitsubishi succeeding where Toyota, with its manifestly superior marketing clout and public image, has so plainly failed.

What might do it though, is if Chrysler could bring in lower spec versions of the 300 at prices competitive with Falcon XT/Futura & Commodore/Berlina....

[aualright]

Originally Posted by bscampbell

I've only seen one 380 out and about in Bendigo.
On a side note, I haven't seen one of the new Impreza's on the road yet...wonder why!?!
Actually I can't judge it yet because I haven't seen one in the flesh...

On the new Impreza....looks like a Daewoo. Perhaps GM influence here..??

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by Abacus

I would love to see a more competitive market, but I don't think the 380 is going to do it. Its FWD and that's the end of the argument. Toyota couldn't do it with the Avalon which, despite its plain-Jane styling and non-involving drive, is very well built, and a better car than the 380 is ever likely to be. I can't see Mitsubishi succeeding where Toyota, with its manifestly superior marketing clout and public image, has so plainly failed.

Look at it this way. The Avalon looks like Sh|te. Seriously. The 380, however looks the goods. It is a nicely built, good looking, well performing car, that doesn't make the owner want to be 80, and a member of the local Bowls Club. The 380 will, after time, sell enough to make MMAL profitable, or atleast make MMAL worthy of making cars in Australia. It may be similar to Ford, Australia making a tidy profit, whilst Mummy and Daddy in the USA are in trouble.

[Abacus]

Originally Posted by paxtonandrew

The 380 will, after time, sell enough to make MMAL profitable, or atleast make MMAL worthy of making cars in Australia. It may be similar to Ford, Australia making a tidy profit, whilst Mummy and Daddy in the USA are in trouble.

Yes, well we can only hope that this will be the case. There are many Australian workers and their families relying on it.

In my earlier post, where I said "I would love to see a more competitive market, but I don't think the 380 is going to do it. Its FWD and that's the end of the argument", I was referring to the "full size" car market.

The 380's dimensions logically pit it against Falcon and Commodore, but I think the market will see it as a Camry/Mazda 6 competitor. It seems to me that Commodore and Falcon buyers won't be tempted because (a) its FWD, and (b) its a Mitsubishi. And somehow, I can't see it pulling sales from Toyota or Mazda.

[SuperMono]

Originally Posted by Abacus

Its FWD and that's the end of the argument", I was referring to the "full size" car market.

To be honest I don't think many 'average' full size buyers even know you can have different ends of cars making things move. It is very rare for any manufacturer these days to mention which end drives within marketing material.

If the car drives nicely on typical sealed roads, looks OK inside and out, has a reasonable price and is not sunk by poor press it will probably sell OK.

By the way the Avalon was never a better car than a Magna of the same age, it started off close to 5 years older in design in the first place.

[Dave_au]

Originally Posted by Abacus

I was referring to the "full size" car market.

As the large car market is currently in decline - it would probably be a good thing to have a medium large car like the new 380, Maxima, Camry and Accord.

And before anyone starts on the "aussies won't drive fwd cars" argument, half the cars on the road are fwds - and this is increasing every day. Additionally, Corolla beat both Falcon and Commodore to be number one in sales for September - god knows whats happened in october.