Mitsu-Jeepi?

[Brandon Libby]

I thought I'd post this here just to get a reaction. There isn't really a Jeep/Mitsubishi rivalry, but if there was one I'd expect this to break the internet.

Here is a conflicted vehicle, if there ever was one: it's a 1974 Mitsubishi J20C. It's not exactly a rebadged Jeep CJ3B, but it's pretty close. Manufactured in Japan after winning a bid from Jeep, this strange vehicle somehow made its way across the Pacific to California and is up for sale. If you find this vehicle offensive, don't worry, it was build four years after Mitsubishi Heavy Industries created Mitsubishi Motors. So, technically speaking, this J20C was produced by a different company than the A6M Zero fighter planes which were responsible for the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. So, if you're into technicalities, you can remain guilt-free behind the right-hand-drive wheel of this strange vehicle. The relationship between Chrysler and Mitsubishi goes back further than the Jeep/Eagle of the late '80's early '90's -who knew? With that bit of history out of the way, you can take this bastard of a Jeep home for $6,000 and piss off all of your Jeep buddies or just the local Jeep club members. Not bad. Not bad at all.

*No affiliation

 

[96Delica]

There's a mitsubishi diesel Jeep for sale here in Toronto at RightDrive. It's been there for a while, interesting little thing. There's a picture of it on my instagram page somewhere, one of the first few pictures I posted.

 

[96Delica]

Here we go
http://instagram.com/p/eXgdv3Ozl6/?modal=true

 

[Brandon Libby]

Such an odd creature this thing is, isn't it?

 

[Toasty]

There is another Mitsubishi Jeep that is an early Pajero

1973 Mitsubishi Pajero

Then the 1979 Pajero II (closer to the model we all know and love)

Then the Second Generation Mitsubishi Jeep they came out with in 1997

 

[Toasty]

Old ad for MMC Jeeps

 

[Toasty]

As for the bastardness of the MMC Jeep it's actually less bastardly than our "authentic" Jeeps considering out domestic Jeeps came with a wide number of different parts from different manufacturers where the MMC version has mostly Mitsubishi parts even if they are licensed copies. My favorite is the Mitsubishi Dana 18 transfer case, it's a copy of the Dana 18 but made by MMC and they didn't forget to add the 3 diamonds to the case casting.

 

[Eric M]

That Pajero II concept car is actually quite modern looking.

 

[mallthus]

We should not forget that Mitsubishi was one of many companies that built Jeeps under license.

They were also built, either under license or from CKD kits, in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, India, Israel, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and Venezuela.

This page links to a lot of stories about these foreign built Jeeps.

 

[Brandon Libby]

Those are some seriously cool looking Mitsubishis!

 

[96Delica]

How does that work under license? They buy the rights to the name and then they build what they like?

 

[Brandon Libby]

These things are growing on trees now.

 

[plh]

CKD kit

This is a breakdown kit of all the parts from Fiat/Chrysler/Jeep and they are assembled in the off shore assembly plant.

 

[plh]

How does that work under license? They buy the rights to the name and then they build what they like?

Sort of. In the case of CKD it stays exactly the same as from the original vehicle as it uses a kit of parts from the original build factory. If the OEM feels there is a market to sell their vehicle in various countries but either logistics or tax is too high to have a viably affordable vehicle, they will work with a local car company to set up a kit assembly line and sales / service / distribution. Many countries have large taxes on vehicles not assemble on local soil in order to foster their own manufacturing growth.

In the case of rights to copy, the local manufacture can re-engineer and re-tool the vehicle. An example would be the Hyundai Galloper engineered and manufactured in So. Korea. It is a re-tooled Pajero.

I took this photo in Daegu So. Korea in December 2013



Here are a couple photos that I took of a Mitsu Jeep in Thailand

I took these photos in Bangkok in July 2014