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The roots of Mitsubishi Motor Corporation can be traced back to the year 1870 when the Tsukumo Shokai shipping company, the biggest industrial group was formed in Japan. Mitsubishi Heavy-Industries that was associated with the origins to Tsukumo Shokai Company took the company to a new direction after launching the project, 'Mitsubishi Model-A' in 1917. Today, it is one of the pioneer companies of Japan that deals in mass-production of passenger cars. It was only in 1970 when the Mitsubishi Motor Japan became an independent company, as a result of the automobile division getting spunked off from Mitsubishi Heavy-Industries. The company was run under the leadership of Tomio Kubo, a successful engineer from the aircraft division. Now this company after more than 30 years of existence has produced innumerable cars, trucks and buses and they are marketed all over the world. In 2003 the Mitsubishi Motors was reborn again specializing in manufacturing and dealing with passenger cars.

East Asian Financial Crisis Period

In its long history of success, the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation has courted many alliances with foreign partners to make a distinct mark not only in their home country but also in the international market. This strategy was for the first time used by the first president of the Company, Tomio Kubo. His main motive behind this strategy was to encourage expansion and even today it is followed by his successors. This strategy helped in increasing the annual production from 250,000 to over 1.5 million units during 1970s and 1980s. But its strong presence in Southeast Asia has seen some worst days as the aftermath of the 1997 East Asian financial crisis. As a consequence, the company has suffered a lot and struggled for many years to consistently increase sales and maintain profitability. A significant portion of the company's stake was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1971 that was maintained for some 22 long years.

Models – Past and Present

The logo of three red diamonds of Mitsubishi Motor Japan is shared with more than forty other companies and is used by Mitsubishi Motors for almost a century. Yataro Iwasaki who was one of the founders of Mitsubishi selected the logo. The design of the logo resembles the emblem of the Tosa Clan who first employed him. The name Mitsubishi is a portmanteau word of mitsu and hishi. While the first word means three the literal meaning of the second part is water chestnut that is quite often used in Japanese culture to denote a diamond or rhombus. Some of the famous vehicles produced by Mitsubishi Motors include 3000GT, Adventure, Aspire, Colt Galant, Challenger, Debonair, Dingo, Endeavor, Expo LRV, Forte, Galant, Jeep, Jolie, Lancer, Mirage, Mighty Max, Maven, Nimbus, Outlander and Pajero amongst others. Presently, the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation when the global sales unit is taken into consideration is the sixth largest automaker company in Japan and the seventeenth largest in the world. There are many models launched recently, such as 2008 Mitsubishi Montero, 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer and many more.