First came Viewt, then there was Cute

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.

Okuriguruma

In these troubled times for the automotive industry, what can car manufacturers do to increase market share and diversify in the world's most rapidly ageing society?

While Nissan's design team has been hard at work restyling its vehicles to suit the ergonomic needs of the elderly, Mitsuoka, that most idiosyncratic of manufacturers, has taken a rather more macabre approach to answering the question very few thought to ask. It has used its singular design language to create a hearse - the Mitsuoka Limousine type2-04, to give it its full grandiose title.

We shouldn't really be surprised by Mitsuoka's move into a new niche market; it is after all a prolific purveyor of the frivolous automotive niche. Take for example the recent Himiko, whose obtuse blend of old and new sees Panther Kallista mixed with Mazda MX5 to create every automotive purist's wet dream.

Rather than bore you with a list of Mitsuoka's past experiments in aesthetics, I am sure you are all eager to learn the specs of this new funereal wagon.

The type2-04 not only belongs to the dark side, but it's also a little bit sexist. Based as it is on a Toyota Corolla Axio, the 2-04 is smaller and more manoeuvrable than your average hearse, allegedly making it an easier more wieldy drive for the female employees of funeral parlours who are increasingly likely to be found behind the wheel of such vehicles. As such Mitsuoka are marketing this car as the first hearse designed to meet the needs of female undertakers - yet another new niche. The 2-04 is still a large car though at a fraction over 5 metres in length, and powered by a choice of 1.5 or 1.8 litre petrol engines its pace is likely to be suitably funereal. The price for all this morbid manoeuvrability - 5,229,000 Yen. But with nearly 20,000 Japanese citizens making it to the ripe old age of 100 in 2008 alone, it shouldn't be too long before it's paying for itself.

In carving out this new niche, Mitsuoka hopes to sell a hundred 2-04s every year, increasing its share of the Japanese hearse market from 10 to 20% in the process. As for the other vehicles which make up Mitsuoka's eclectic line-up of hearses, I shall save these for another rainy day.

Mitsuoka Galue Convertible: Mustang Madness from those Purveyors of the Peculiar at Mitsuoka

The New Mitsuoka Galue Convertible



Mitsuoka, without doubt the most enigmatic of all Japanese carmakers, never fails to raise both eyebrows and smiles on the infrequent occasions it launches new models. Indeed, displaying its customary eccentricity in choosing to launch its latest visually challenging model on Friday the 13th (of April), Mitsuoka looks set to once again make waves with its new, dare we say it, handsome addition to the curious Galue range - the Galue Convertible.


The Mitsuoka Viewt (2nd Generation)

Mitsuoka, although outlandish in its approach to vehicle design, has, until now, more or less stuck to a tried and tested formula when concocting its singular automotive creations, traditionally taking a standard vehicle from any number of Japanese manufacturers, before then endowing these aforementioned vehicles with numerous styling cues lifted directly from various British automobiles of the 1960s. To witness evidence of this approach to automotive design, one need only look as far as Mitsuoka's most famous export and perennial bestseller - the Viewt. This vehicle, now in its second generation, adheres firmly to the Mitsuoka formula, taking a standard Japanese domestic market vehicle - in this case the Nissan March/Micra - and extensively reworking it, incorporating various elements of British car design circa 1960 to produce an end product which bears more than a passing resemblance to the getaway car of choice for armed robbers in 1960s London, the Jaguar Mark II. Indeed, this pattern of paying homage - although some purists may prefer the term “bastardising” - to classic British designs repeats itself across the Mitsuoka range, with the Daihatsu Mira-based Ray mimicking a Riley Elf and the larger Ryoga showing traces of Jaguar Mark X and early Jaguar XJ.


The Nissan Fuga-based Galue Saloon

However, the newly launched Galue Convertible - Galue being derived from the Japanese word 我流 meaning "to go one's own way" - looks set to live up to its name and jettison the ageing Mitsuoka philosophy of melding antediluvian British design with contemporary Japanese hardware. Although the new Convertible's sister model, the Galue Saloon, gave intimations as to Mitsuoka's new direction, fusing, as it does Japanese underpinnings with a British Bentley-esque front end and an American Cadillac-inspired rear, the Galue Convertible consolidates this new design philosophy, breaking with tradition and becoming the first Mitsuoka offering not to be based on Japanese hardware. Whilst the Galue Saloon is a remodelled version of the Japanese market Nissan Fuga, the Convertible model has gone further afield in search of its inspiration and is based on the American market Ford Mustang Convertible.


The Galue Convertible's Mustang-based Interior

While the Galue Convertible still exhibits strong traces of Mustang -most noticeably on its flanks and in its interior, which is, bar the edition of a Mitsuoka-embossed steering wheel, carried over almost wholesale from the Ford - the front and rear of the Mustang have been extensively refashioned, duly imbuing the Convertible with the idiosyncrasy necessary to bring it sufficiently into line with the rest of the Mitsuoka range. Mitsuoka have traditionally been keen to preserve the more traditional elements of car styling however, the Galue Convertible sees the company show a distinct disregard for the Mustang's iconic design, Mitsuoka's stylists giving the Mustang a frontal treatment which bears similarities to Bentley S2s of the 1960s. Meanwhile the rear styling of the Galue Convertible skips a couple of decades and crosses the Atlantic Ocean, imbuing the vehicle with heavy doses of Americana and a derriere reminiscent of a mid-1980s Cadillac Eldorado. The overall result, despite the use of such disparate design motifs, is surprisingly coherent and sufficiently unorthodox to justify both the vehicle’s Mitsuoka badge, and its hefty premium over a standard Mustang.


The Galue Convertible's Cadillac Eldorado-inspired Rear

The Galue Convertible will be offered with two power plants, both of which are Ford engines found in the Mustang: one a 4-litre V6 (213ps), and the other a 4.6-litre V8 with a power output of 304ps. Both models are equipped with a 5-speed automatic gearbox and are only available in left-hand drive. Meanwhile, body colours are limited to black, red, or white, with the leather interior available in either red or black. Those wishing to own one of these Anglo-American/Japanese automotive oddballs will be required to shell out 6,720,000 Yen (£29,000) for the V6, or 7,770,000 Yen (£33,500) for the V8. Eccentric exclusivity never came so cheap.