Mitsi magic

The motoring industry is expected to rationalise the high cost of advertising, says ALASTAIR SLOANE, and the new Diamante is the first in this campaign.

Mitsubishi was the first carmaker to react in print to Toyota's "Bugger" advertising campaign. It pictured in newspaper advertisements its more powerful Triton commercial alongside the Toyota Hilux with the word "bugger" underneath. The inference was that Toyota had got it wrong.

It was good advertising fun. Australian newspapers even recorded Mitsubishi's response when the Hilux ad reached television screens there. The papers asked why the Australian advertising industry couldn't be as innovative.

"The best advertisement on television in Australia is the made-in-New Zealand ad for the Toyota Hilux. Why?" said one daily.

The same question might arise again now that Mitsubishi New Zealand, which has just unveiled the new Diamante, is to share advertising budgets and brochures with Mitsubishi Motors in Australia.

"It is in its early stages but basically, we will share material," said Ross Cameron, a marketing executive for Mitsubishi in Wellington.

Brand advertisements for New Zealand-only models like the Galant will be done here. Those for vehicles like the Diamante, Lancer, Mirage, Pajero and Triton, which also sell in Australia, will be put together by an Australian agency.

"We will do as much as we possibly can to produce material acceptable to both markets," said Cameron. "It makes a lot of sense because the markets are so similar.

"In the old days we would produce a Diamante brochure and so would they. They would make a Lancer advertisement and so would we. So everyone was reinventing the wheel - it didn't make any sense."

Cameron said he expected the motor industry to rationalise the "high costs of creating advertisements" as it searched for ways to better spend money.

"What it means is that you can start to maximise advertising budgets because, by putting the two resources together, you can do things you weren't able to do before.

"For example, we would never think of using television advertising for the Mirage in New Zealand because it is a low-volume product. But the Mirage is strong in Australia and Mitsubishi has fantastic commercials that we could run here without any trouble."

Mitsubishi will start the campaign for the Diamante with press advertisements, some made in Australia, some in New Zealand. The television campaign, which will show later in the year, will be made in Australia.

The Diamante range comprises four sedans and two stationwagons and is priced between $38,600 and $48,900. The wagons offer maximum loading capacity of 2110 litres.

Each Diamante will be powered by a 3.5-litre V6 producing 147kW at 5500 rpm and 300Nm of pulling power at 4000 rpm, and mated to an intelligent four-speed automatic transmission which adjusts to the driver's style.

"The swing to automatic transmission in large cars is almost complete and we see no significant market for a manual version," said marketing manager Mike Alexander.

Standard equipment includes antilock ABS brakes, dual airbags, cruise control, air-conditioning, trip computer with speed-alarm setting and anti-theft immobiliser. Traction control is standard on all but the base model.

The Diamante range offers three suspension set-ups in the rear, depending on sedan, wagon or sports variants. The front system is a standard independent MacPherson strut with anti-roll bar across the range.

The Diamante comes for the first time with traction control, which comprises a trace and slip control system. This provides an optimum match between engine power and driving conditions and helps to prevent the careless driver from going backwards through a hedge.

For example, a front-drive car under power through a corner can easily run wide. Traction control automatically cuts in to help the driver stay on the straight and narrow. It works, too.

So do the radio controls on the steering wheel and the electric windows, which can be operated 30 seconds after the ignition is turned off.

The Diamante went on sale last Monday.