page_title: Mitsubishi Motors Australia
section_title: Mitsubishi Motors Australia - est. October 1, 1980
hierarchical_section_title: Mitsubishi Motors Australia / History / Mitsubishi Motors Australia - est. October 1, 1980
caption_attribution_description: English: 1987 Mitsubishi Colt (RD) GL sedan. Photographed in Sutherland, New South Wales, Australia.
context_page_description: Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited is a fully owned subsidiary of parent company Mitsubishi Motors Corporation of Japan. The company was established in 1980 and began vehicle manufacturing in that year, having taken over the facilities of Chrysler Australia. Australian production ceased in 2008 and since that time the company has been exclusively a vehicle importer.
context_section_description: After the acquisition by parent company Chrysler of a 15 percent interest in Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in 1971, Chrysler Australia began building Mitsubishi-designed Chrysler-branded vehicles, namely the Chrysler Valiant Galant (later Chrysler Galant), based on the 1972–1977 Mitsubishi Galant and the Chrysler Sigma, a variant of the 1977–1985 Mitsubishi Galant. In 1979, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation and Mitsubishi Corporation each acquired a one sixth equity in Chrysler Australia. The collective price paid for the two-sixths equity was A$27 million. 
  On 30 April 1980, the two Japanese companies assumed 98.9 percent control by paying a further $52 million to acquire Chrysler's remaining 65 percent share. The remaining 1.1 percent was held by 690 local investors. The company name was changed to Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited on 1 October 1980. Production of the popular Sigma range of vehicles continued under the Mitsubishi name until 1987 with its eventual replacement, the Magna, having been released in 1985. Colt production, which had commenced in 1982, ended in 1990, with no locally manufactured replacement.
  The Magna, like its forebear the Sigma, was based on the Japanese Galant. Input from MMAL resulted in a wider car than the Japanese donor model to suit the Australian market and to compete with the popular Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore. A station wagon variant was added to the model lineup in 1987. The Magna received several model refreshes during the 1990s including a luxury variant named Verada. However, by the early 2000s, it was clear that the Magna / Verada line, now in its third iteration had aged considerably. A facelift to the Magna / Verada line in 2003 failed to lift sales. After lobbying from Mitusubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) approval for construction of a new vehicle was granted by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation. Funding was provided to reengineer the Tonsley Park plant with the result that a new vehicle, the Mitsubishi 380, was delivered to the market in late 2005.
  In 2003 MMAL gained approval from MMC to create Mitsubishi Research and Development Australia (MRDAus) with a budget of $30 million. MRDAus was to be the fourth global Mitsubishi Research and Development Centre. MMAL's proving ground at Tailem Bend was to be upgraded including the addition of a high speed oval and numerous other proving ground facilities and the Testing and Proving group's laboratories at MMAL headquarters in Tonsley Park was also to be upgraded. MRDAus was originally tasked with completing Mitsubishi 380 Testing and Proving prior to the start of volume production. MRDAus also negotiated substantial job share for the testing and proving of the PS41L, the codename for a stretched 380 for the US market. Unfortunately with the financial woes facing MMC globally and the cancelling of the PS41L program MRDAus was unable to reach its full potential. In late 2004 after expanding to 90 personnel the MRDAus expansion was halted before the 380 was even launched. A security fence around most of the expanded Tailem Bend site was almost completed and the earthworks for the high speed oval had begun when work was halted in 2004.
caption: The Colt subcompact car was produced from 1982 until 1990
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