Mitsubishi In-House Tuner Ralliart Closes its Doors

Mitsubishi Lancer Galant Fortis RALLIART

By Zack Newmark
March 11, 2010 9:00 am
Filed Under: Japanese, Mitsubishi, Tuners

The company responsible for handling rally and off-road tuning for Mitsubishi will be shutting its doors.  Japanese tuner Ralliart will be closing up shop on April 1 after 27 years in business.

In an open letter to his customers, Ralliart president Masao Taguchi said his firm is another victim of the economic downturn.  The company will cancel their technical support plan and will no longer advise motorsport customers.  The Mitsubishi/Ralliart Driver of the Year award has also been cancelled.

Only production of FIA VO Ralliart items will remain, but that will now be taken care of by Mitsubishi.  Their catalogue of aftermarket tuning parts for normal customers has apparently been axed.

"We would like to express our sincere apology to all of customers," Taguchi said.

Source: nihoncar.com

Press Release (Click to expand)

Partial Cease of Business Activities along with Ralliart Inc's
Business Scale Down
Ralliart Inc (President Masao Taguchi) has announced as follows.

Dear all of our customers ,

First of all, we much appreciate for your usual patronage to our company.
Our company have done the various activities relating motorsport with the support of many people since the establishment in April,1984 so far. However, because of the sudden change of economy situation since the year before last, the business circumstance surrounding our company radically became worse and so, this time we have reached the conclusion that we Ralliart Inc., would scale down our business activities as of the end of March 2010.

Along with the scale down of our business activities this time, we would cease the following business and operation which we have done so far. We would like to express our sincere apology to all of customers though we would make you much inconveniences.

Meanwhile, we wish you a continuous support to Ralliart family and entrants driving Mitsubishi cars who play an active part all over the world.

Items which would cease our business and operation along with our business scale down;

1. Support to motorsport customers(Support to the participation, Technical Support, and Awarding of Mitsubishi/Ralliart Driver of the Year)
2. New Planning, Development and Merchandize of Ralliart products (Except FIA VO parts) :*1
3. Information of new products and dispatching motorsport information(at web):*2

*1 FIA VO parts development and those application work shall be done by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation as it is.
*2 FIA Group-N information shall be open at the web site of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.

Date of the cease: 1st April, 2010

Comments

mak 8
March 11, 2010 9:42 am
That's bad news for today. who's next????

joshg_5
March 11, 2010 9:54 am
That's too bad. Now what does Mitsubishi have that anyone would buy less the Evo X?

sideskraper
March 11, 2010 3:21 pm
Closing Ralliart doesn't mean there will be no more Evolution X. The only effective difference to consumers will be that Ralliart badging, seat embroidery, and dashboard labeling will all disappear.

tootall
March 11, 2010 11:19 am
Apr 1st? What a coincidence. It's a joke!

Faithback
March 11, 2010 7:01 pm
Interesting observation.. I would have expected closure on 31st March... But the delay of the Ralliart models in South Africa without any reason makes me suspect there is probably truth.

MTC
March 11, 2010 12:28 pm
Mitsubishi is kinda dead already

the Evo is keeping them alive and hope nothing bad will happen to it

Captain Scarlett
March 12, 2010 6:51 pm
I have to agree with you. Bar the Evo, what else do they have in their range that makes an impression. However the same could be said of Subaru!

arty89
March 12, 2010 11:37 pm
I think you are all a little stupid for suggesting that the only thing keeping Mitsubishi alive is the EVO. the EVO accounts for only a small percentage of its global sales. Mitsubishi has a huge product range and even sells commercial air conditioners. So you should probably think about the bigger picture.

TroyBoy71
March 14, 2010 12:05 am
What a shame - let's hope they keep doing versions down under!

Add Comment

If you would like to comment, please sign in using the form on the left hand side, or create an account.

Your account

username
password