Hi all,

Maybe the wrong section for this but....

I'm awaiting delivery of my new 380 and was constantly thinking...if the 380 came in a 2 door version, I would SO buy that !

So I'm googling Mitsubishi and reading articles and accidently go onto US sites and see the Eclipse..which appears to have a similar engine to the 380 (well 3.8L anyway...).
The car looks amazing...kind of like a Nissan 350Z but better...and far cheaper !

Why is this car not in Australia ?
Does anyone know ?

cheers,
Steve

pretty sure you can get em imported

Hi all,


Why is this car not in Australia ?
Does anyone know ?

cheers,
Steve
You do realise they drive left hand drive in the US? I dont think they make a right hand drive version for export.

I realise they are left hand drive in the US.
Is that the reason, that MMAL don't want to do a conversion ?

I realise they are left hand drive in the US.
Is that the reason, that MMAL don't want to do a conversion ?
It costs a fortune to do a conversion after production. The only way that it could come here would be if MMUS started building right hook versions, which would kinda kill Tonsley Park in a bit of a hurry once the capability for the US plant to produce right hook versions extends to the US Gallant.

It costs a fortune to do a conversion after production. The only way that it could come here would be if MMUS started building right hook versions, which would kinda kill Tonsley Park in a bit of a hurry once the capability for the US plant to produce right hook versions extends to the US Gallant.

bummer.
There is a real gap in the 'affordable 2 door' in Australia right now, and the 2007 Eclipse looks amazing....I would have grabbed one instead of the 380 Platinum, even if it was 5000+ more, if the opportunity was there.

I liked the gold eclipse on MM Americas website. Could be a real 350Z alternative.

It costs a fortune to do a conversion after production. The only way that it could come here would be if MMUS started building right hook versions, which would kinda kill Tonsley Park in a bit of a hurry once the capability for the US plant to produce right hook versions extends to the US Gallant.
If mitsubishi were to produce a right hand drive version they would just export the parts/moulds to Australia unassembled for us to build.
It all comes down to cost, the cost to setup the tonsley plant to make these as well as the various engineering testing to comply with AUS standards and ADR's would have to be less than the profit they would make from selling them, and my guess is Mitsubishi don't see a market here for it that will turn a big enough profit at this stage.
Perhaps when mits is back on it's feet and going strong they'll look into it.

If mitsubishi were to produce a right hand drive version they would just export the parts/moulds to Australia unassembled for us to build.
It all comes down to cost, the cost to setup the tonsley plant to make these as well as the various engineering testing to comply with AUS standards and ADR's would have to be less than the profit they would make from selling them, and my guess is Mitsubishi don't see a market here for it that will turn a big enough profit at this stage.
Perhaps when mits is back on it's feet and going strong they'll look into it.

but they spent 600m on setting up and development of the 380 didnt they? - and that is not going as well as expected/hoped.......maybe it would be an alternative?.......

Anyway - it think the 2 door versions of large cars are more for the "muscle car" appearance like holden did a few years ago with the Monaro - not really 380's style - especially as there is only a V6 flavour....and its more built/designed for a family/older generation market....

but they spent 600m on setting up and development of the 380 didnt they? - and that is not going as well as expected/hoped.......maybe it would be an alternative?.......
Yeh true, but i think we can all agree that there is more of a market for a large family car than there is for a 2 door sports car.

If mitsubishi were to produce a right hand drive version they would just export the parts/moulds to Australia unassembled for us to build.
It all comes down to cost, the cost to setup the tonsley plant to make these as well as the various engineering testing to comply with AUS standards and ADR's would have to be less than the profit they would make from selling them, and my guess is Mitsubishi don't see a market here for it that will turn a big enough profit at this stage.
Perhaps when mits is back on it's feet and going strong they'll look into it.
Don't forget thought that after MMAL has had enough fun with the 380 Series 12 and closes shop in 2014, we'll probably be getting right hook Galants from America - and the American Galant platform is already under a number of vehicles over there.

Bringing in *** kits won't address ADR compliance laws, but luckily California generally has more stringent design rules than our ADRs. No one really uses *** kits anymore, the only real economically viable reason to use them would be to gain some sort of loophole around import tariffs.


but they spent 600m on setting up and development of the 380 didnt they? - and that is not going as well as expected/hoped.......maybe it would be an alternative?.......
The 600m would have already been impaired in an accounting sense, and should have been knocked off the books. I'd guestimate that the capitalised development costs for the 380 would probably be circa $140-230m now.

dont be so negative dave! Why would MMC shut down the most efficient plant they have in their company, aswell as a plant that gets SIGNIFICANT local, state and federal government support! It just doenst make good business sense to shut down the plant. The 380, the car, is unsuccessful yes, but that doesnt mean that tonsley park, the manufacturing facility, isn't a viable asset for MMAL and MMC. People too quickly assume that the 380 and tonsley park are one and the same, but they're not. MMAL and MMC did not so heavily invest in tonsley park for the production of just one vehicle!

They will simply find a more viable product to build their in the future. They are definetly going to build another medium-large size car, so they will probably re-deply tonsley park to build that for both local and international markets, basically everywhere else in the world other then north america, which will build their own version due to restrictive importing rules in the US

Not trying to be negative, definately not saying they would close the Tonsley plant in the short term, however god knows what they will do with it after the 380 has run it's course. I'm dealing with the bluntest knives in the drawer over on another automotive forum, and I do appologise if I have extended the negativity to AMC.

Incidently, apparently Mazda is short on production capacity and it's looking to build another plant - probably in Thailand, but with global options still on the drawing board.

There is a chance this car could be part of that 'project global' over the next few years.

Just seems like a waste not to do it considering that the Eclipse does use a 380/Gallant platform (according to a US website I read....)