Twentysomething white Mitsubishi wagons are not what one might call an exciting find. But if you don’t take the time to look at the absence of excitement, it can seem like there’s so much CC fodder out there that plain vanilla vehicles such as this one do not exist. But no, most of Kanto is plain indeed; this Libero stood out in that it pushed the vanilla envelope to the extreme. Careful with this one, dear reader, it’s going to be extra dull.
Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall in the executive suite of certain carmakers? In the ‘80s and ‘90s, for instance, it seemed like Mitsubishi didn’t know what they were doing with their bread-and-butter family cars. Just figuring out the name seemed like a real challenge. “Sooo… what are we going to go with? Colt, Lancer, Mirage, Summit, Wira?” “Why not all of those, depending on the market?” “Sure, let’s go with that.”
It’s hard to try and reverse-engineer most of Mitsubishi’s decisions from those years (see also the Proudia debacle), but the most puzzling one is their fumbling of their historic Lancer and Colt nameplates. Other than by throwing a dart, blindfolded, at a giant bulletin board full of post-its of PR brainfarts, it’s difficult to figure out what happened. But I’ll try.
So let’s get back to that meeting room. “There’s a coupé version. What should we call it?” “Nothing special. Just Lancer / Colt / Summit coupé.” “Right, but make an exception with the Proton-badged Malaysian version – they’ll be called Putra. Because reasons.” “Cool. Cool cool cool. How about the wagon, anything special?” “Don’t bother with the Eagle version. And in Japan (and only in Japan), give it its own model name.” “OK, but let’s make it a name with an L, an R and a B, so that virtually nobody will be able to pronounce it.” “Genius.”
Other than that stupid name, it’s just a Lancer, no more and no less. The JDM version arrived in mid-1992 and lasted until the end of 2000 as a wagon, but continued on for another three years as a base-spec van. Our feature car, being a “V Limited” wagon, is a very late model. And it was so unengaging that I wasn’t even tempted to see how many shades of dark grey constituted its interior trim. Sometimes, you have to know when to cut it short. And on this note…
Related post:
CC Colt Chronicles Part 9: 1993 Colt – Death Of A Pony, Birth Of A Legend, by Perry Shoar
I regret to report that you failed; this article was actually quite interesting. 🙂 Corporate bumbling – whether over nameplates or anything else – always makes an intriguing read.
I am in agreement with Paul…dull and dumb can be kind of enriching in a stupid sort of way. 🙂
I enjoyed it.
I find the frameless rear window an interesting look, no matter where it appears, but it doesn’t quite work here. Still, than raises this car a smidge above plain vanilla.
The rest of the car?
BTW, Mitsubishi : the company that gave us the Tredia, Cordia, and the Sigma (that last one makes me think of a bodily function or secretion.)
It reminds me of an article some time ago when another website covered the Eagle Summit version of this car (coupe and sedan, no wagon of this generation sadly) for a feature they were calling “Meh Car Mondays”.
I noted in comments that there were both 4-window and 6-window 4-door sedans, and that in the US at least Mitsubishi sold the 4w under their own brand while the Dodge/Plymouth Colt was a 6w – and Eagle seems to have had both over the course of the gen 2 Summit.
Of course, not a single toss was given by anyone, much less Jeep-Eagle dealers who were selling XJ Cherokees and firstgen Grand Cherokees hand-over-fist at a much higher profit per unit than the compact Mitsu sedan could dream of.
I had one of these things, a 95 model. Very little difference to the one pictured. Dull but reasonably dependable apart from having to replace the transmission when it started slipping. I drove the thing into the ground, it failed inspection at around 260 thousand km and just wasnt worth repairing. The interior was a mix of light and dark grey plastic with light grey mouse fur upholstery.
In design matter it’s not so far from the contemporary Astra F Caravan, Escort SW and VW Parati G2, but how annoying are the inclined reverse lights, they don’t engage with any other line.
These were quite common in Australia,and were sold by their proper name,Lancer Wagon,I always thought that these and the model that succeeded them were smart little wagons.
You forgot that for the JDM the coupe wasn’t a Lancer but was instead the Mirage Asti!
And also the Mirage sedan for the JDM had a 6-window arrangement that was only otherwise found on one of the US versions.
This Libero also came, basically at the end of its life, to the UK as the Lancer for a couple of years before the early-00s Lancer arrived (we hadn’t got this generation of Lancer/Mirage/etc. except for the 3-door Colt hatchback for inexplicable reasons). My friends had a used one at uni that they’d use solely to lug mountain bikes on weekends, or occasionally furniture. It did remarkably well for the condition it was when they got it.
Meanwhile, in the sedan department…..EVO!
Don’t think they did this wagon as an Evo though.
I think that with the exception of the Montero, 3000GT and Eclipse, Mitsubishi has never introduced a vehicle that made me turn my head. Their product always seems so bland and stale, even brand new.
No car is dull with your writing, Tatra! Although I wouldn’t blame Mitsubishi for the decisions made at Proton.
I’ve only seen Liberos in Perú, as they imported loads of used JDM vehicles.