As is often the case when it's looking all quiet on the Japanese automotive front, those oddballs over at Mitsuoka have managed to conjure up a modicum of excitement by pulling yet another unorthodox new model out of their hat.
After 16 years in production, and the launch of two successive generations, we should by now all be familiar with the Nissan March/Micra based, Jaguar MkII emulating Viewt. However, with Mitsuoka recently announcing that production of the second generation Viewt is to end in December 2009, in preparation for a Viewt-less future, the company appears to be exploring other March-based avenues, this time in the form of the newly launched Cute. In perverse Mitsuoka fashion, the Cute isn't actually a new car at all. Instead, it is a new used car, with Mitsuoka carefully selecting a pre-loved example of the Nissan March, which is then put through a rigourous 67 point inspection before being sent down Mitsuoka's production line to commence its transfiguration into a Cute.
As is evident from the accompanying photographs, the March's mutation into the Cute sees the little Nissan titivated with the addition of the Viewt's visage, while the rear bumper and flanks are suitably embellished with chrome rubbing strips. The end product is thus essentially a Viewt, save for the absence of that vehicle's curvaceous derrière. Sadly, however, it is an absence which leaves the Cute looking a little unresolved. Indeed, would the Cute's inspiration, the Jaguar MkII, still be regarded as a design classic today if it too had been brought into this world as a hatchback?
Still, with prices starting at 1,080,000Yen, dependent on mileage, there are few cheaper ways of getting yourself into a hand-crafted Mitsuoka.
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