Mitsubishi to Discontinue Raider Pickup

Large cars and pickup are no longer included in the plans of automakers present in the United States as the market slowly turns its eyes to small-displacement vehicles, particularly focused on fuel efficiency and low gas emissions. And Mitsubishi follows the same trend as it today said it will discontinue the Raider pickup lineup, as part of the company's plans to reorganize the American lineup.

The United States-sold Mitsubishi Raider is supplied by Chrysler LLC and, according to Autonews, the Japanese carmaker does not intend to renew its contract in 2010 when it expires. However, Chrysler will continue to supply the Raider through mid-2010, the source added, but Mitsubishi does not intend to replace the pickup with another car.

As mentioned, this is one of the efforts courtesy of Mitsubishi to concentrate on more fuel-efficient cars for the United States market and abandoning big-displacement models that have nothing in common with fuel economy seems to best way to achieve this goal. According to Autonews, this isn't the last model to be discontinued by Mitsubishi, with the mid-size Galant sedan to be replaced by a smaller car.

A rebadged version of Dodge Dakota, Mitsubishi Raider arrived in the United States in 2006 and was exclusively manufactured by the Warren, Michigan production facility. Available in two body configurations, with 2 or 4 doors, Raider provided a choice of two engines, namely a 3.7-liter V6 and a 4.7-liter V8, plus three transmission variants, as it follows: a 4-speed automatic, a 5-speed automatic and a 6-speed manual.

Raider brought quite poor sales to the Japanese automaker, with a disappointing 2,935 sold units reported in 2008. This revealed a drop of 64.5 percent from the previous year, according to figures published by Autonews.