Photo: a.c.g_design / Instagram
Merely a little over a decade ago, in 2012, mid-size passenger cars were vastly more popular than crossovers in the United States. Oh, how the tides have changed now.
Back then, cars that had come to define the intermediate market, like the Ford Taurus or Toyota Camry, were more than alive and well. Most of them are extinct today, and only the Chevy Malibu still keeps the banner up for Detroit automakers. Meanwhile, Asian carmakers seek to ensure the survival of the segment in an age of crossovers, SUVs, and trucks.
Well, at least they are doing a great job – even if traditional sedans are not what they used to be in terms of sales. The eighth generation Hyundai Sonata has already reached its mid-life cycle refresh moment, and even if there is no ninth iteration, it will surely go out with a Sensuous Sportiness bang provided by the full-width LED light bar at the front. The eternal Toyota Camry, now also in its eighth international iteration, eagerly awaits the Japanese automaker to finally reveal the all-new 2024 Tacoma and 2025 4Runner mid-size truck and SUV siblings to get its own chance at shining brightly in new generation attire.
As for the Honda Accord, that one is like an 'old goat' indeed – now in its eleventh generation but still clinging firmly to the side of the four-door sedan mountain peak. It is the freshest option currently on the market, and production is well underway at the Marysville, Ohio-based Honda Marysville Auto Plant in ICE-powered and hybrid form. But what if a returning Japanese mid-size sedan adumbrated its novelty? And one that stems from Mitsubishi, of all places!
The latter Rising Sun carmaker is but a pale shadow of its former self, considering the bland roster of $16k to $40k models formed of the 2023 Mirage, Mirage G4 sedan, Outlander Sport, Eclipse Cross, and the latest Outlander plus Outlander PHEV. Gone are the days when Mitsubishi was selling cars inspired by racing monsters, and so are the times when Mitsubishi fans treated the automaker as the king of rally racing. Instead, all we have is stuff like Renault lookalikes now.
And no matter how much we sob about the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, chances are it may never reappear to show Subaru who is both a dirt and tarmac boss – especially since the latter also abandoned the cool ways of the WRX STi just recently. Anyway, maybe there's another chance at redemption – this time in the sector of mid-size four-door sedans. Or at least that is the opinion of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.
More precisely, a virtual automotive designer, better known as a.c.g_design on social media, tried to imagine how to bring back the Galant nameplate for a tenth generation, complete with the current Mitsubishi design language. Alas, this is definitely a traditional sedan, and it's pretty interesting to see how the pixel master quickly tamed the company's quirky styling to make it feasible for a proper four-door passenger car reinvention. So, do we give it our CGI hall pass?
Or is the traditional sector – especially in America – too far gone into the endangered zone to even consider the opportunity of relaunching a nameplate that bowed out of the market in 2012, right when mid-size sedans were still thriving, and crossover SUVs were only distant seconds in the sales charts?
Well, at least they are doing a great job – even if traditional sedans are not what they used to be in terms of sales. The eighth generation Hyundai Sonata has already reached its mid-life cycle refresh moment, and even if there is no ninth iteration, it will surely go out with a Sensuous Sportiness bang provided by the full-width LED light bar at the front. The eternal Toyota Camry, now also in its eighth international iteration, eagerly awaits the Japanese automaker to finally reveal the all-new 2024 Tacoma and 2025 4Runner mid-size truck and SUV siblings to get its own chance at shining brightly in new generation attire.
As for the Honda Accord, that one is like an 'old goat' indeed – now in its eleventh generation but still clinging firmly to the side of the four-door sedan mountain peak. It is the freshest option currently on the market, and production is well underway at the Marysville, Ohio-based Honda Marysville Auto Plant in ICE-powered and hybrid form. But what if a returning Japanese mid-size sedan adumbrated its novelty? And one that stems from Mitsubishi, of all places!
The latter Rising Sun carmaker is but a pale shadow of its former self, considering the bland roster of $16k to $40k models formed of the 2023 Mirage, Mirage G4 sedan, Outlander Sport, Eclipse Cross, and the latest Outlander plus Outlander PHEV. Gone are the days when Mitsubishi was selling cars inspired by racing monsters, and so are the times when Mitsubishi fans treated the automaker as the king of rally racing. Instead, all we have is stuff like Renault lookalikes now.
And no matter how much we sob about the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, chances are it may never reappear to show Subaru who is both a dirt and tarmac boss – especially since the latter also abandoned the cool ways of the WRX STi just recently. Anyway, maybe there's another chance at redemption – this time in the sector of mid-size four-door sedans. Or at least that is the opinion of the imaginative realm of digital car content creators.
More precisely, a virtual automotive designer, better known as a.c.g_design on social media, tried to imagine how to bring back the Galant nameplate for a tenth generation, complete with the current Mitsubishi design language. Alas, this is definitely a traditional sedan, and it's pretty interesting to see how the pixel master quickly tamed the company's quirky styling to make it feasible for a proper four-door passenger car reinvention. So, do we give it our CGI hall pass?
Or is the traditional sector – especially in America – too far gone into the endangered zone to even consider the opportunity of relaunching a nameplate that bowed out of the market in 2012, right when mid-size sedans were still thriving, and crossover SUVs were only distant seconds in the sales charts?
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