SPARKLE OF A DIAMOND
In 1917, Mitsubishi launched the Model-A to become Japan’s first automotive manufacturer—a remarkable feat for one that started out as a spin off of a ship building firm. 100 years later, the company known for its three-diamond emblem is still setting rec
Like most of today’s big and successful companies, they all started with a simple project. In the case of Mitsubishi, it was the launch of the Model-A in 1917.
In those days, Mitsubishi was already one of the most far-reaching companies in Japan, engaged not only in shipping but also in coal mining, ship repair, iron milling, marine insurance business, the manufacture of aircraft and equipment as well as trading business.
Koyata Iwasaki, Mitsubishi’s fourth president and nephew of founder Yataro Iwasaki, foresaw the vast potential of motorized vehicles and the role they would play in the economic development of Japan.
His belief led Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. (later became Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.) to branch out and develop its first—and only—car model: a four-door, seven-seater Model-A that is powered by a 35-horsepower, 2.8-liter, four-cylinder engine.
First mass-produced car
The Model-A was a luxury vehicle combining imported Italian mechanical flare and traditional Japanese craftsmanship. And considering car building was an expensive endeavor back then, only 22 Model-As were built at thecompany’s Kobe shipyard by 1921.
After the Model-A, the company would stop momentarily in producing automobiles as it shifts its interest back to its shipping business.
Nevertheless, the numbers built was enough to make the Model-A to be regarded as Japan’s first mass-produced passenger car as well as the first car to ever wear Mitsubishi’s three-diamond emblem.
Three diamonds
Referred to as “the three diamonds,” the Mitsubishi’s 147-year old emblem is composed of three red rhomboids that refers to the family crests of the company’s founder (the three stacked rhombuses of Yataro Iwasaki’s family crest), and the three-leaf crest of the Tosa clan, Iwasaki’s first employer.
As for the name, Mitsubishi is a combination of the words “mitsu” and “hishi.”
Mitsu means three while hishi means water chestnut, which incidentally is also regarded by the Japanese to denote a rhombus or diamond shape (also, Japanese often bend the “h” sound to a “b” sound when it occurs in the middle of a word, which is why they pronounce the combination of mitsu and hishi as mitsubishi).
First four-wheel
After the Model-A, it will take Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. another 19 years, in 1936, before rolling out another automobile. This time it’s the PX33, the first Japanese car to feature a full-time four-wheel drive technology. The unique system featured in this vehicle was the basis of the Mitsubishi 4WD technology that would later help the brand stand out among other car manufacturers.
Four working prototypes were built and one version, a 6.7- liter direct injection diesel engine, which was first in Japan. The PX33 project was canceled in 1937 when the company started to focus on commercial trucks and buses.
After the breakup of Japanese conglomerates following World War II, Mitsubishi Heavy Indus- tries were divided into three outfits: East Japan Heavy Industries, Central Japan Heavy Industries, and West Japan Heavy Industries.
Unprecedented growth
Post-war Japan—between 1950s and 1960s—was a scene of unprecedented economic growth and the various Mitsubishi companies were very much a part of that growth in their established industries and in new ones.
For example, East Japan Heavy Industries entered into a licensing deal with Kaiser-Frazer Corp. to produce the American automobile model, Henry J, which became available in Japan from 1951 to 1954. It became the first car to be produced in Japan after the war.
During the 1960s, as Japan’s economy was gearing up and the idea of family motoring was taking off, the company introduced the Mitsubishi 500, regarded as the first mass production passenger car that fulfilled the need of many Japanese families.
With a monocoque body construction and rear-engine/rearwheel drive layout, with the spare tire and fuel tank housed under the front hood, the Mitsubishi 500 was the first Japanese car to be tested in a wind tunnel.
It was replaced in 1961 by the Mitsubishi 500 Super Deluxe that offered seating for five as well as a faster and more powerful 594 cc engine. It made its world debut at the 9th Macau Grand Prix in 1962 where four Mitsubishi 500’s occupied from the first to fourth rank in the class A (less than 750cc) category.
Reintegration
It was not until 1964 when Mitsubishi’s three fragments were reintegrated. With the world increasingly dependent on imported oil and Japan’s construction skills honed to perfection, demand for tankers became so overwhelming that Mitsubishi’s three parts had to be reunited, resulting in the rebirth of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
With the unprecedented growth in its commercial vehicle production, the need to create a single operation that will focus on the automotive business became more apparent. The result was the formation of the Mitsubishi Motors Corp. (MMC) in 1970.
It was also a period of innovation for the company.
In the late ’80s, as Japanese car makers were battling it out to produce the ultimate Kei class micro car, Mitsubishi Motors became the first to market a car engine with five valves per cylinder—a 1989 Minica Dangan ZZ hatch that is powered by a 548cc 3G81 engine.
This design allows excellent breathing as well as high RPM and very high power outputs.
In 1992, Mitsubishi Motors equipped its Colt Mirage with a variable valve timing mechanism it called as the MIVEC or the Mitsubishi Innovative Valve timing Electronic Control system. It was the fruition of years of research on how to control valve timing and amount of lift with the aim of achieving high power output, low fuel consumption, and low exhaust emissions.
Since then Mitsubishi Motors has been adding a number of enhancements to produce an even better performance like the adoption of a mechanism that continuously and optimally controls the intake and exhaust valve timing. Today, the all-new MIVEC engine controls both intake valve timing and amount of valve lift at the same time, all the time.
Just recently, MIVEC was also applied in common rail turbo diesel powered Mitsubishi vehicles. With MIVEC technology, finer control of the valves is achieved. Thanks to improvements in common rail diesel technology, diesel can now combust at much lower pressure. The lower pressure in the combustion chamber means that it is now possible to use lightweight aluminum alloy material for the engine block.
With MIVEC finely controlling the valves, improvements in all areas of performance is now a reality: lesser Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH); lesser fuel consumption; improved overall acceleration and driving performance; and reduced maintenance cost, and longer service lifespan.
In August 1996, the company became the first automobile manufacturer to apply gasoline direct injection technology in a production model (a Galant sedan/Legnum wagon equipped with a 1.8liter 4G93 engine).
The GDI technology is among a handful of innovations that helped keep the almost 200 year-old internal combustion engine alive well into the 21st century. The technology optimizes the air/fuel mixture to create a clean burning explosion with very little wasted fuel and increased power delivery.
Motorsports success
The years that followed saw the beginning of the Mitsubishi brand’s considerable international rallying success with the Galants and Lancers, demonstrating distinctive qualities, performance, and reliability for which they are known today.
By the end of the decade, Mitsubishi vehicles were picking up recognitions both at home and abroad, including the Galant as South Africa’s 1977 Car of the Year and the L200, as the United States’ 1979 Pick-up of the Year.
But this was just the beginning. In 1982, the Pajero (named Shogun or Montero in other parts of the world) was launched. As an allwheel drive quite different from anything that had been driven before, the Pajero took, in just a few months after its launch, the Paris-Dakar rally, topping the Production Class, Marathon Class as well as the Best Team award in 1983.
The rally, an annual rally raid that cut a swath of four-wheeled chaos from France to the westernmost tip of Africa became the Pajero’s playground. By 1985, the Pajero was a force to be reckoned with as it had become the race’s vehicle of choice, with three factory and 37 private entries.
Mitsubishi continued to score championships throughout the 1990s, winning four titles. Then, starting in 2001, the Pajero blazed a seven-year dominance, cementing its legendary status.
Indeed, no other manufacturer has so utterly dominated the grueling Paris-Dakar rally, with a record 12 wins between 1985 and 2007.
As a result, the Pajero became a global bestseller, winning 4x4 of the Year awards in Britain, France, Australia, Spain and West Germany.
During the late ’ 90s, Finnish rally legend Tommi Mäkinen and his Mitsubishi Lancer were almost untouchable in the World Rally Championship (WRC), winning four consecutive titles from 1996 to 1999.
Mitsubishi signed Mäkinen in 1995 and began an extremely successful partnership that lasted until 2001. His first win for Mitsubishi came in 1996 at Rally Sweden in a Lancer Evo 3. From that point on he dominated the sport for four years, winning 18 rallies and back to back titles in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
Electric technology
Mitsubishi Motors’ electric vehicle research and development began in 1970, becoming the first auto manufacturer to mass market an electric vehicle. After more than 40 years of development, the production version of the 2010 Mitsubishi Innovative Electric vehicle (i-Miev) was launched in multiple worldwide markets in 2009.
The result of four decades of research, the MiEV technology is an integrated management system that constantly monitors and optimizes the flow of energy throughout the car. The MiEV technology creates smooth and constant acceleration, distributes incoming energy from the regenerative brakes, and continually regulates the output from the battery. Simply put, MiEV is an automatic copilot that ensures all systems are, well, green.
For the next 100 years, Mitsubishi Motors is focused on connected car technology and the next generation of electric vehicles.
Looking to Southeast Asia
In February last year, Mitsubishi Motors presented a product road map until fiscal year 2020 that looks to Southeast Asia. According to the United States research company Frost & Sullivan, new car sales in Southeast Asia are expected to grow 47 percent from their 2016 level to 4.65 million units in 2022.
Mitsubishi Motors is already establishing footholds in the region’s promising markets—including the Philippines where it is currently producing the Mirage compact cars.
During a ceremony in Febru- ary, Mitsubishi Motors president Osamu Masuko talked about the Philippines’ promise: “The largest population increase in Southeast Asia by 2050 can be expected (in the Philippines).” For now, the plan is to produce 50,000 units a year in the Philippines.
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) is first to commence the local production of its participating unit (the Mirage G4) under the Philippine government’s Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy (CARS) Program, a fiscal-capped, time-bound and performance-based program provided by the government to help elevate the Philippine automotive industry. CARS is specifically implemented to transform the coun- try into an automotive manufacturing hub in the region.
Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Mitsubishi Motors is set to make large SUVs and compact multi-purpose vehicles. Its plant in the country has an annual capacity of up to 160,000 cars. Mitsubishi Motors also sees Thailand as the key Southeast Asian market, where it can already produce 420,000 cars a year.
Now that Mitsubishi Motors is now into the Renault-Nissan Alliance, expect the company to benefit from an extensive bank of platforms, engines, and technology from which it can draw to create the brand’s next generation of models.