Only around 50 examples of Australia’s cheapest new car remain in showrooms, after new safety regulations pulled the plug on the Mitsubishi Mirage late last year.
Australian new-car buyers on a budget will soon have one less option under $20,000, as remaining stock of the Mitsubishi Mirage drops into the double digits.
As reported first by Drive, the Mitsubishi Mirage falls foul of new side-impact crash safety regulations introduced last year – but instead of investing in structural upgrades needed to ensure it remains compliant, Mitsubishi opted to pull the now-nine-year-model from sale.
Seven months after the final Mirage city cars were imported and complied at the end of October – for the November 1 deadline – only around 50 cars remain “in the [dealer] network”, according to a Mitsubishi Australia spokesperson this week.
These final examples are expected to be sold to customers over the coming weeks and months – aligning with Mitsubishi Australia’s prediction late last year its final batch of Mirage stock would last it until June this year.
At $14,990 plus on-road costs in base ES manual form, the Mitsubishi Mirage is Australia’s cheapest new car (by RRP, not drive-away price) – a title it will soon lose to the Kia Picanto, priced from $15,990 plus on-roads (or $18,490 drive-away).
Since the safety regulation came into force on November 1, Mitsubishi has reported 1729 Mirage hatchbacks as sold (to the end of April 2022) – outstripping its 2019 and 2020 sales results combined, in just seven months.
As a refresher, the Mirage’s death comes at the hand of Australian Design Rule 85, a new set of side-impact crash safety regulations that came into force for newly-introduced passenger cars and SUVs on 1 November 2017 – or all passenger cars and SUVs from 1 November 2021.
Australia – which proposed the regulations a decade ago – is the first country to implement the regulations, with Europe and Japan (among other regions) to follow in the coming years.
Europe will receive an indirect successor to the Mirage (or Space Star, as it’s marketed there) next year, in the form of the Renault Clio-based Colt hatch.
However, this model isn’t on Mitsubishi Australia’s radar – meaning that, following the Lancer’s axing five years ago, the company will go without a traditional passenger car locally for the foreseeable future.
The post Mitsubishi Mirage almost sold out appeared first on Drive.