The struggle to put together a rescue package for Japan's Mitsubishi Motors has a particular resonance here in Canada where the industry is wondering how the neophyte operation can hope to survive.

Mitsubishi's Canadian operation is less than two years old, but its sales volumes are so low industry executives are questioning the viability of its marketing costs and dealer count.

By the end of March, sales for Mitsubishi Canada were off a chilling 35.6 per cent, down from a first-quarter figure in 2003 that was already below expected levels. At current rates, the Mississauga-based firm will be lucky to sell 10,000 units in 2004.

When the company launched in the summer of 2002, North American management (then headed by Canadian Pierre Gagnon) was projecting 30,000 units a year in 2007, with maybe 80,000 a year in the not-so-distant future.

The new management of Mitsubishi North America (which controls the Canadian arm) is not talking figures like that now.

Finbarr O'Neill is the current boss of Mitsubishi on both sides of the border, having come over from Hyundai America to replace Gagnon when the company's zero-down, zero-interest, zero-collateral financing schemes turned into a sea of bad debts with the very young people the hip advertising was intended to attract.

In a phone interview from his office south of Los Angeles, O'Neill said he's "not in the position to say what our volume estimates are that far out," but he is sure that Mitsubishi will stay in Canada.

"We have no intention to withdraw from the market," he said. "We expect to succeed."

The trick to this, O'Neill says, does not involve great changes to the product line, though there will be ongoing upgrades and a couple more products down the line.

"Our products are well-received and the dealers are fine," he said, "so we just have to get on more shopping lists."

Mitsubishi was certainly on a lot of shopping lists before, but they were apparently the wrong ones: Prospective consumers were either too young and insolvent to afford the vehicles they coveted, or they were older people looking for a bargain and nothing else.

"The traffic was driven by the deal," O'Neill said. "Communication was focused at the young, but ultimately it was based on the deal. Now, we want to prove that the product is worth having."

It's a considerable challenge in a market full of established competitors who are themselves all projecting large growth in market share. The growth projections are so big from the established brands that Canada's total sales volume will have to grow from between 1.6 million to 1.7 million a year to 2.2 million or 2.3 million in the next three or four years to accommodate them all -- a change no one in the industry believes is possible.

O'Neill said he wasn't sure how Mitsubishi would compete for attention in this market, but "our focus has to be on marketing."

"We have to consider if our U.S. marketing will work in Canada in English and French. We have to wonder if our approach of comparing ourselves directly to Toyota is the right direction, or whether we need to focus on our products."

Industry insiders say Mitsubishi's biggest problem may be its dealer base, which is growing restive with the lower-than-expected sales volumes and the absence of marketing strategy.

Mitsubishi has had three dealers from various parts of Canada resign, O'Neill said, but "it's not like people are running for the fences."

Replacement dealers are being found, O'Neill said, and the company is looking to expand its dealer base (there are now 50 across Canada) in the country's top 10 markets. O'Neill said he doesn't believe a large number of dealers is the direction to follow, preferring instead to find a smaller group of dealers who can each sell a lot of vehicles.

"We plan to be a competitor in Canada. We know we have a challenge that won't be easy to meet in a highly competitive market. But we believe we can do that if we market with discipline and consistency so more Canadians come in and kick the tires."

Chevrolet Nomad

In an interview at the Geneva Motor Show in March, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner said the Chevrolet Nomad isn't getting as warm a response from the public as from the media and industry.

The Nomad is a compact two-door crossover/SUV/wagon the company wants to build on its new rear-drive Kappa architecture. The plan was it would be a sibling to the Pontiac Solstice roadster and a sporty model for the Saturn division.

Unfortunately, Wagoner said, the consumers who checked the Nomad out at the Detroit and Chicago auto shows weren't as enthusiastic.

GM has not given up on Nomad yet, however, since it was on display at the recent New York Auto Show and people at the top levels of product development think it's a great vehicle.

GM will keep doing research to see if it can find a way to connect Nomad with the buying public.

The Nomad's inspiration goes back 50 years to a previous concept car on the original Corvette architecture and there was a two-door Chevrolet station wagon called the Nomad in the late 1950s.

But younger buyers don't seem to "get" the Nomad.

There is also apparently some confusion about Nomad's design, since consumers see it as being both retro and futuristic at the same time.