IncorpoRatedX
Explorer
It's worth noting that this forum, facebook groups for monteros, our own personal groups of friends for some of us (i'm guilty) is a giant echo-chamber.
I mean that in a best way possible. We're all supportive of our brand, Mitsubishi, we all share similar opinions on the trucks and what we want and dont want, however... consider the following;
Outside of this forum, our pages, our echo-chamber fun-house... is a real world, there's a lot of people out there willing to spend serious coin on a superior vehicle. Most of us here didn't buy our Montero's new. We can say it's because we didn't know about them in 1995 or we were too young, but we bought a used vehicle for any long list of check boxes, and here we are, speculating on what the opinions of a wide range of new-car buying folks want. Now, i'm not saying you folks dont buy trucks new...
But, Look at the raptor... it exists because ford knew it would sell. Ludicrous as it is. (I think they're pretty cool)
Now, Take that Raptor idea and back off the throttle a bit to where Toasty was running, a nice Montero Sport, 3.8 mivec, diesel option, they'll be faced with major hurdles...
if they want to get on board with toyota, nissan and other truck makers... they'll have to bring the American steel... This means American workers. You've seen the steel tariffs, yah? no? K, well that's gonna drive up importing materials, importing trucks has it's own ball of wax, i think that's been explained by a lot of folks and if not, google 'importing trucks chicken tax'
how'd that bad to bone little max get here? Who? The Mighty Max. The best darn small pick-up I've ever owned. I love them. A lot of folks love them, they snuck in with a funky bed, it was assembled stateside and taxes were avoided. They managed to make a good, affordable, reliable, (get the diesel, or that 8v 2.4 if you're shopping yo! non interference!) compact pick-up with a diesel option... HELLO THERE <3 - Ok, back on track... so apply the apples to those oranges and you'll be talking about American manufacturing of Montero Sport (L200 chassis) in American factories.
Now.. I think ole' Jeff Diaz, new MMNA CEO as of April freakin' fools, haha... is smart enough to know who the guys are who know these trucks best... He was around chrysler for the DSM days, the DSM's were great and the guys in IL did nice work for just boom, start building a japanese sleeper car, but there's new manufacturing process in play these days, and those guys who know the Montero the best? Those are the guys already building them, he'll probably (hopefully) have the truck sent over in systems, chassis with powertrain maybe, cab and bed separate, maybe bed made stateside. Then, let the good ole' UAW boys of wherever's cheap laborsville (cough: I dont think you sold that normal plant, did ya?) boot up a marriage process.
That's all my speculation, so take it for whatever it's worth. I don't have any inside track, I'm not some smart guy, I'm just a dude that grew up in Michigan, where automotive manufacturing didn't just make life great for the UAW guys from the big-three, it was great for everyone, every supporting company within a 350 mile range that built components and bits and pieces of the vehicles that were put into the final machine, that helped make the local economy great.
My friends, their parents, my family, all groups of people who worked for either the automotive industry or segments that supported it. My great grandfather turned wrenches on the Studebakers in the Studebaker factories I later used as industrial ruin backdrops for photos of my Mitsubishi's.
Nature swallowing up what the government wouldn't bail out...
Those days aren't gone. But you don't get there by flipping a switch tomorrow and gearing up an entire area to build a truck they know nothing about. Bring the Montero Sport in segments, teach our American gearheads what it takes to build a quality, 12 time Dakar champion of a machine, explain it all to them, then let the guys that run that show start to source the credible parts in America, eventually, powertrain manufacturing could drift over, or more, it all depends on what the people surrounding whatever location you'd choose in the states, can support. TL
R? Contain, control, inform, research, release.So, in the end, I say, keep telling your friends about how your Montero is the best thing you've ever owned and you wish there was a new one. When people ask for a good, used SUV, tell them about the Montero and the Montero sport... Why don't more of you guys build sports? There's a ton of parts that just swap over... anyhow... Keep posting on social media telling mitsu to make a new one. Diaz listens to consumers, it's one of the things he says about himself, so, if he's a Man of his word on any level, he'll hear a bit from the squeaky wheels, there's enough fan-boys yelling evo, but they've been burned on that road and, besides, he's a truck guy...
That's my 'writing on the wall' $.02
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