Ralliart shuts down

[Onassis]

In a letter issued to its customers, Ralliart, a Japanese high-performance subsidiary of Mitsubishi, has announced that it is closing its doors. The company's business case has apparently faded, a victim of the wilting domestic aftermarket scene as well as its lack of continued motorsports involvement.

Naturally, we wondered if and how the closure of the company responsible for its high-performance parts and related merchandise would impact the development, production and marketing of Mitsubishi vehicles sold here in the States – more specifically, the Lancer Ralliart and Sportback Ralliart models. To answer that question, we spoke with Mitsu spokesman Maurice Durand, and he informs us that the closure of Ralliart will not, in fact, have any affect on the availability or continued marketing of these models (or any future branded offerings), as Mitsubishi owns the rights to the name, logo, and so on. Furthermore, all licensing agreements in foreign countries remain intact.

So, while you may not be able to get a genuine JDM Ralliart strut-tower brace or shift knob, you can breath easy that the SportBack that you've been saving your lunch money for will still be at your local dealer by the time you've got enough scratch. Official press release after the jump.

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/03/10/r...hat/#continued


Hmmm... things aren't looking very good Mitsubishi

[FS1992EG]

lol whoever owns a lancer ralliart, there cars are rare now

[Onassis]

Mitsubishi will still be producing the Ralliart Lancer. It's just a shame for us because we've only had a true Mitsubishi performance car for the first time in decades and can't get manufacturer tuning support anymore. It's also really shitty because we probably won't get the Ralliart colt when it comes in 2013.

[optiblue]

wow... I should have bought the s2k~