The range was given a styling revision and re-released on September 13, 2006, priced from 913,500 to 1,484,700.
Immediately upon its release it was the recipient of the "Good Design Award" by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in 2001.While the initial sales target was 10,000 units per month, it sold 13,000 in its first four days, and 20,000 by the end of October 2001. It is Mitsubishi's highest volume model in the Japanese domestic market, and total sales to 2005 are approximately 480,000. Since 2005, Nissan Motors has received 36,000 eK wagons annually from Mitsubishi, to be sold within the domestic market as the Nissan Otti.
Mitsubishi had been engaged in a long-term venture with Chrysler (now DaimlerChrysler), assembling a series of cars and trucks for Chrysler brands since the 1970s. Some Chrysler cars use Mitsubishi componentry, but have been gravitating toward more use of Mercedes-Benz componentry, which is considered superior. DaimlerChrysler recently announced that it was withdrawing all financial support and sold its shares in MMC. However, Mitsubishi will still be able to build the Dakota-based Raider and Chrysler will still use a Mitsubishi-based chassis for its Stratus/Sebring replacements. |