Final goodbye to the Mitsubishi 380
March 27, 2008 by George Skentzos
It is the end of an era, with the final Mitsubishi 380 sedan rolling off the production line at the Tonsley Park plant in South Australia.
To shows its thanks to the South Australian community for their support, Mitsubishi has something special planned for the final four vehicles made.
The first has been donated to the Royal Flying Doctor Service, an iconic Australian service providing healthcare to rural Australian communities.
“The Royal Flying Doctor Service is an iconic Australian institution, based in South Australia, and is responsible for saving thousands of lives throughout the country every year.”
Another will be donated to Vision Australia which brings assistance, education and care to visually impaired people and their families across Australia.
The third has been sent to the National Motor Museum at Birdwood which maintains an extensive array of historical vehicles.
The final – and very last 380 sedan ever made – is set to be sold at dealer auction, with all proceeds to be donated to charity.
Print it: 
Andrew M
Next generation US galant will be based on Concept ZT, similar front to the Lancer. We won’t see the next generation Galant till 2010. Unfortunately it won’t be built locally, most likely built in US. From all the reports it will be fascinating car.
It’s sad to see the end of the 380. It’s difficult to pinpoint to once thing for the demise of the 380.
Negative publicity and perceptions about Mitsu (previous financial problem, potential closure of the ADL plant didn’t help, older reliability issues)
380 should have been released at least 12 months earlier (this would have allowed the model to establish itself, before the VE & Aurion. As well as before the petrol price rises.
380 name was not the right name (should have used a name like Galant or Diamante or Magna or Grandeur, Numeric name was not personal enough and made it difficult to have a choice of engines as 380 denotes the 3.8 L engine)
Under powered engine (175 kW is more than adequate for the car, Most of its competitors are powered by engines with more than 190kW, Like the US Galant should have used the 195 kW Mivec engine on sporty models)
Lack of a 4 cyl engine variant (may be as a different model like Toyota Camry & Aurion, it wouldn’t have been too difficult to use the 2.4 4Cyl engine used in the US galant)
Lack of ESP and curtain air bags (most of it’s competitors has these features)
Interior styling on base models, not so useable steering wheel controls( Could have made minor improvements to these)
Lack of significant export markets (Inability to export to LHD markets due to LHD Galant built in US needs exports markets, the size of RHD export markets are smaller and only significant markets the 380 could have been exported would have been UK, Japan and South Africa. The difficulty of the strong dollar, tariffs and meting requirements in these markets prevented the export to these countries. The other RHD countries are developing countries and you need a 4 cyl model to export to these)
I believe these were the main reasons the 380 failed. Even if Mitsu had addressed all the above except the exports to LHD markets the 380 would have died in 2010, as it’s impossible to sustain local manufacturing without a significant LHD/RHD export markets.
hey..ah…vehicle,
lets ride till we die.
:)
i wanna make love in that ride…in that ride…((beat of music))
I’m just overjoyed that they are gone.When they start taking down their big ugly depressive sign, I’ll try to be there and have my picture taken in front of it with my two thumbs up doing a Toyota jump.I am so overjoyed words can’t explain.The only thing to top this would be the corporation folding.
The 380 was killed by people who never even knew anything about the car either because they didn’t know it existed or they where too scared to look at it & take it seriously because it wasn’t in vogue like the VE Omega or the XR6 where.
Most people on this blog who are slinging the negative comments about the 380 have never even driven one, that is quite obvious.
Its shape is no worse than the the latest offer from ford which is a redesigned old as Falcon AU from the 90’s. The Omega is sort of nice though if you like a brick with wheels. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I can imagine what some of your women must look like,not all would be Glamors but some of you still married them!Why?
The 380 interior was way better than the standard bland Omega and almost on a par with the Falcon, but the Mitsu interior didn’t explode in heat & over bumps like the other two.
But it did need a new front & at least Totally new headlights because it still looked like a toned down way out ugly looking Magna, it also needed a rounder rear end. Before I even knew what the car was I realized what it was from those headlights. Obviously Mitsubishi didn’t listen to the consumer at all and went with the (toned down)scare buyers away headlights again.
I have seen & driven better built cars than the 380 but they are not made in Australia.
But Mitsubishi have to take most of the blame for the demise of the 380, because although they made a good car not enough people where made aware of this fact & they also cut corners on everything from the 380 headlights to advertising the vehicle. Also the 380 should have been a bigger step away from the smoke blowing Magna.
Then when the writing was on the wall Mitsubishi went all out in their advertising campaign but it was too late, most Aussies had already overlooked the 380 and got into another Holden or Ford.
RIP 380
Yes it’s sad the 380 is gone because it was a good car but hey it’s not too bad because,like,, it’s not as if Mitsubishi has gone bust altogether.
The demise of the 380 is just like the end of a model and that happens all the time in all motor vehicle manufacturing companies. Holden,Ford,Toyota & just about every other vehicle maker have all axed low selling models at one time or another, and they will do it again.
Mark my words because Good low klm 380’s will be collectors cars one day. Just like the crappy old valiant is today.
The 380 was fine, the reason it failed and MMAL died was the bloody front end on the 380.
The front end styling on the 380 looked like a bloody mid ninties Honda civic.
If MMAL had of used VE like head lights and squared off the grille, the car would have sold like hot cakes !
But even if the 380 had decent front end styling,
i personally would not have bought one.
I don’t like front wheel drive (hate it)and i drive a verada, so it’s not like i hate mitsu’s….got my peeps on a V8 Commodore.