RALLIART Winds Down its Business Operations

[Francisco]

RALLIART Winds Down its Business Operations

Ralliart Inc. has announced that it will cease its global motorsports business operations as of April 2010.

The company has stated that its business activities have radically deteriorated as a result the economic downturn that began in 2008 and that it can no longer continue to operate under these conditions.

Ralliart is in the process of winding down its sales and support services before officially closing its doors to the public. Customers still have until March 22nd 2010 to place orders on competition parts, sport parts, collection items etc.

Ralliart's scale down includes the following items:

1. Support to motorsport customers (Support to the participation, Technical Support, and Awarding of Mitsubishi/Ralliart Driver of the Year)
2. New Planning, Development and Merchandize of Ralliart products (Except FIA VO parts)*
3. Information of new products and dispatching motorsport information (on the web)**

*FIA VO parts development and application work shall be done by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation as it is.
**FIA Group-N information shall be available on the official Mitsubishi Motors Corporation website.

Ralliart was established in 1984 by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation to serve the company's growing motorsports programs. From the time it was created by MMC, Ralliart grew to 23 branches worldwide before announcing its close for business March 8th 2010.

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World Rally Sport: Francisco's Rally Blog (http://worldrallysport.com/content/ralliart-winds-down-its-business-operations)

[Francisco]

Mitsubishi: Dakar champions replaced by plug-ins :eek:

By Michael Vaughan, Autos.CTV.ca

Here is a perfect example of the direction in which the world's automotive manufacturers are going. Mitsubishi which is nowhere in the world's mass market - oh, alright they're number 17 - has been the undisputed champion of the world's toughest off-road endurance rally-race, the Paris-Dakar. It has been the greatest accomplishment of a brand which is known for ugly over-powered sedans and ugly under-priced SUVs.

However last week they announced that effective April Fools' Day they're dumping their Ralliart Division which is where they developed their rally champions (Click for More Deatils (http://www.worldrallysport.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4511#post4511)). At around the same time they announced a deal with Peugeot/Citroën to build 100,000 Mitsubishi electric-car i-MiEVs to be rebranded as the C-Zero and iOn in Europe. MiEV stands for Mitsubishi innovative Electric Vehicle and it's a plug-in battery-powered car that should run about 160 kilometres in ideal conditions on an overnight charge.

It's an amazing change in business strategy for a rally champion with its identity and brand based on crushing the competition in brutal desert conditions. You can see there's a turn in industry philosophy when Mitsu decides to focus its limited resources on tame little electric city cars instead of off-road rally champions.

Have you ever watched the Dakar Rally on television? It's amazing to see the kinds of conditions through which the entrants attempt to race. After it became too dangerous to race through Africa, the "Dakar" moved to South America. From what I've seen the driving conditions grew worse although the security risks grew less.

Mitsubishi ran a factory team in twenty-six Dakar rallies, racking up a total of twelve victories including seven in a row. However they suddenly dropped out of the series in 2009 citing poor economic conditions. Now after another brutal sales year Mitsu is dropping the entire Ralliart Division. Mitsubishi president Masao Taguchi said the following,

"Dear all of our customers. First of all, we much appreciate for your usual patronage to our company. Our company have done the various activities relating motorsport with the support of many people since the establishment in April 1984 so far. However, because of the sudden change of economy situation since the year before last, the business circumstance surrounding our company radically became worse and so, this time we have reached the conclusion that we Ralliart Inc., would scale down our business activities as of the end of March 2010. We would like to express our sincere apology to all of customers though we would make you much inconveniences."

Some scale down - Ralliart is toast. Mitsu has already shut down their California design studio which was the creator of the look of the Ralliart cars. This step brings to an end more than 25 years of high performance, tuning and development.

So what is actually going on in the ever-changing world of automotive technologies and automotive alliances? First of all, the French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën decided not buy a stake in Mitsubishi Motors. That may be a good thing because the French company reported a 2009 net loss of €1.2 billion. Mitsubishi Motors meanwhile reported that its sales fell 43 percent in the nine months through December while its net loss grew.

Mitsu and Peugeot getting together could be a situation of the weak propping up the weak. But from a strategic point of view the two companies appear to have decided that their shared future is in electric cars. Rally fans won't be thrilled by this decision, but in the auto industry of tomorrow it's clear that electric cars are more important than Dakar champions.

END

Source: CTV News - Mitsubishi: Dakar champions replaced by plug-ins (http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100312/autos_mitsubishi_dakar_100312/20100312/?hub=AutosV2)
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[shockey1221]

This just sucks. While it's true that in today's world, manufacturers must pour research and development money into hybrid and electric vehicles, I hate to see a company with a great racing history fund such things instead of a motorsports program. First it was BMW and Toyota pulling out of F1, then SEAT out of the WTCC, and now it seems Mitsubishi will follow suit. I hope they continue to lend their support to racers through the main brand, but this doesn't sound good at all. :(

[MSI]

Hmm, I had heard rummors, but I guess it is actually happening now!
Wonder what MML in the UK will be up too then?
-mark

[Nicki]

Have we heard anything if this is going to affect Canadian sponsorship? They are an amazing sponsor to PFR each year! I really hope all is well on the local front!