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Mitsubishi Attrage brochure reveals additional looks, info

If you're keen to get a closer look at the upcoming Mitsubishi Attrage global sedan, we've got good news for you. A handful of brochure images have made their way to the web courtesy of IndianAutosBlog.com, complete with driveline details. The compact car looks to have its teeth set on taking a chunk out of the Nissan Versa. The Attrage will launch in Thailand with a 1.2-liter three-cylinder engine good for 76 horsepower coupled to either a five-speed manual transmission or a continuously variable transmission. The combination should yield a range of around 570 miles with an 11 gallon tank. We'll save you the math: that's over 50 miles per gallon, though we wouldn't be surprised to see a more powerful, less efficient engine show up on the US-spec model. Buyers can also enjoy snazzy 15-inch alloy wheels.
Expect to find a rearview camera, push-button start, Bluetooth audio and automatic climate control indoors. This information gives us a pretty good idea of what we can expect from the car once it touches down here in the US, though final details - including powertrain - remain likely to change somewhat.

Fiat taps Mitsubishi for European pickup

Mitsubishi is often derided in the US for its relatively boring lineup, Lancer Evolution aside, but the company is on the upswing worldwide, recently posting record global operating profits. The Japanese automaker may get a further boost in the near future from a rumored pickup truck deal with Fiat.
According to insider sources speaking to Automotive News Europe, Mitsubishi would reportedly build a variant of its widely respected L200 pickup truck for the Fiat Professional brand in Europe and Latin America starting in 2016. The L200 is larger than the Fiat Strada front-wheel-drive pickup already available in those markets, and it's available in rear- and four-wheel-drive configurations. The idea of adding a midsize truck to the commercial lineup was in the Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles five-year plan, but it didn't include any mention of a partnership to build it.
At first blush, the Mitsubishi agreement seems like an odd move, given that Fiat already owns pickup truck specialists Ram. However, according to ANE, the company had at one time planned to use a version of a new Dodge Dakota pickup for duty in Europe and Latin America, but the model never came to fruition.

DoJ fines Japanese parts firms $740M in massive automotive price-fixing scandal

Nine Japanese suppliers have pleaded guilty in US court over charges of price fixing in the automotive parts industry, resulting in the Department of Justice doling out a total of $740 million of fines, according to a report from Bloomberg. The scandal, which has resulted in General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Chrysler spending up to $5 billion on inflated parts and driving up prices on 25 million vehicles has sent the DoJ hustling into investigations. "The conduct this investigation uncovered involved more than a dozen separate conspiracies aimed at the U.S. economy," Attorney General Eric Holder (pictured above) said during yesterday's press conference.
As the investigation stands, the DoJ has issued $1.6 billion in fines against 20 companies and 21 individual executives, with 17 of the execs headed to prison. Deputy Assistant Attorney General Scott Hammond said, "The breadth of the conspiracies brought to light today are as egregious as they are pervasive. They involve more than a dozen separate conspiracies operating independently but all sharing in common that they targeted US automotive manufacturers."
Big-name suppliers indicted in the investigation include Mitsubishi Electric, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Hitachi Automotive and Mitsuba Corporation. A list of fines and other corporations named in the investigation is available at Bloomberg.