You guys are killing me. I'm 50 and just bought an Evo VIII the day after Thanksgiving. I guess I'm just young at heart.

 

I hope I have the same passion as you and can own a car like the Evo with I'm 50.

I can't believe that the Lancer has that much of the market share. Michigan must just really hate Mitsu.

 

The wife and I are both 31, and to keep on topic, I have only seen 3 other RA's in Kelowna BC. WidebodyLancer's black RA, a red one, and a yellow one drove off the lot... never to be seen again.

 

Good for you! I'm 47 and got the RA 'cause I quit retail to go back to school and can not at this point afford the EVO. Should graduate in 2 more years. Wife likes riding in the RA and said I should get the real car soon as I get the next real job. Can't wait! I think she just wants the RA.

Back to topic...I have never seen an add for the RA, saw one while showing my wife the Evo after test driving the competition. I didn't know they existed.

 

here in Ottawa, I've only seen a few. Yellow, (modernRacer), Mine, a white one at my dealership that was some punk kid's. Funny thing a guy at that works in the same building as me has the same silver RA. His is stock though. Every time I see the car go by I say" someone's stealing my car" My coworkers laugh at me.

 

yeah, i only seen a couple in southern pa. i get so mad too. i don't like seeing people in ra's except for me. hahaha

 

I've only seen 2 others around. One is a silver one that my friend talked one of his co-workers into buying instead of a civic. And one is a red one. I've only seen each one of them once, so i don't really see them at all.

 

Ot but the reason why Mitsu may be marketing to an older demographic might have to do with the fact that the tried the 0,0,0 thing that nearly bankrupted MMNA. That was of course targeted at a younger demo.

BOT
I haven't seen too many Ralliarts on the road either. But I did see a couple at the dealer today. I don't know who would buy one automatic, you might as well buy an ES LS or OZ.

WADAD

 

uhoh, you may be stepping on some toes.... CanadianCanuck, easy now......j/k I know wagons only come auto.

 

Wow, you learn something new everday. I too would have thought honda, toyota or even scion would ****** up that market share. I truely believe it's cuz mitsu makes or tries to deliever there cars as sporty. Look, even the galant (IMO) looks sporty. The eclipse has always been preeped as a sporty ride. The ralliart is a sporty ride w/ performance aswell. Thou the oz doesnt have the engine, it too has that sporty look and even the es, ls... new bodyshape looks sporty.

Ok, im all sporty out...

Sporty Mitsu

 

I think there are several factors that contribute to the RA being rare. Here is my .02:

1) MMNA being grossly mis-managed from the top down. The root of all problems are right here.
2) Mitsu cannot identify/does a terrible job of defining a target audience for it's different products (except the eclipse, which is marginal at best). Check out Honda marketing for good examples (Element, Pilot, Hybrid). They do not market different brands at the same target audience. For that matter, even HYUNDAI does a better marketing job (see Santa Fe ads and XG350 ads)!
3) Advertising is mostly non-existant and bland (the only tv ads I have seen lately are "best backed" ads and a Galant ad ). They have to figure out who they want to sell their different products to.
4) They have completely missed the boat on brand loyalty with shoddy dealerships and poor customer service.....this all goes back to #1.

BTW--- I am 31 and still fall into the popular 18-35 target audience!

 

Well I guessed I missed the target Fast 'n Furious demographic too - I'm 40 LOL! But we bought the Ralliart specifically for it being a compact, 4 door car (ie more than capable of doing duty as a daily ride) that can still be fun to drive. I've enjoyed autocrossing (along with drag racing) in the past and fully intend to continue that with the Ralliart...well the autocrossing anyway *L*.

As for advertising, have seen NONE on the Ralliart up here - but they sell good here just the same. We don't get the EVO in Canada, so the Ralliart is the top model and at the local dealer, fully half of all Lancers they bring in are Ralliarts. And they sell quick!

 

I've seen a handful of Ralliarts in the baltimore area.

 

Mitsubishi is targeted at "young adults" looking for a sportier car. You can see that in the interiors of all cars as beeing more sporty than Bling! Bling! like the Accords and others, more like my dad or grandpa kind of car. You can see this just by checking the Galant VS Accord and Camry. "Sportronic" is trying to make that statement to, making cars that are more fun to drive (in fact thats one of the points stated in Mitsubishi Corp. Mission and Vision for the future). I think we all fit in the "young adults" segment, but for MM lack of aim in their marketing I agree with you, they know their target (if not they wouldnt be EVOS and RA to begin with) is just that they dont know how to reach to them.

 

I have only seen on Ralliart other than mine in my area. I see a lot of dressed up OZ Rally editions.

No offense but mitsubishi could probably do without the OZ, and maybe we would see more Ralliarts.