Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year, meaning it is now officially the Year of the Horse. America may have its Broncos and Pintos, but in Japan the marque most associated with the horse is Mitsubishi. The first use of the Colt name dates all the way back to 1962, predating even the Ford Mustang.
Responding to the Japanese government’s call for a people’s car, the Mitsubishi 500 was released 1960. Though designed by former aircraft engineers it didn’t fare well in the marketplace, so just two years later Mitsubishi revised it and renamed it the Colt. Its rear-mounted air-cooled 594cc two-cylinder engine making 25 horsepower had already been installed in the Mitsubishi 500 by August 1961, but the rebrand helped give the car a new start.
The following year Mitsubishi released a four-door sedan, the Colt 1000. As a result, the smaller Colt was renamed the Colt 600. Things were moving at a rapid clip, and by the end of 1965 Mitsubishi had introduced an even larger Colt 1500, and the still slow-selling Colt 600 was replaced by the sleek new Colt 800 fastback.
Exciting and modern submodels like Colt Galant debuted at the end of 1969, finally allowing Mitsubishi to shake off its stodgy image. In turn, it spawned offshoots like the Colt Galant GTO and FTO, which eventually became so successful that the Galant name overshadowed Colt and became a standalone model starting in 1973 and dropping the Colt name altogether.
In America, Mitsubishi had partnered with Chrysler in a symbiotic relationship. Chrysler needed small cars to compete with the Toyotas, Datsuns, and Hondas that were gaining popularity. In return, Chrysler gave Mitsubishi, a latecomer compared to its Japanese rivals, instant access to a vast dealer network.
The US marketers seemed to slap the Colt name on anything. The Mitsubishi Lancer? Dodge Colt. Galant? Dodge Colt, again. The compact Mirage? Dodge Colt, but also Plymouth Colt. The five-door Chariot? Colt Vista. The RVR? Colt Wagon. In this way, the Colt name survived until 1994.
In 2002 Mitsubishi revived the Colt name for a small Honda Fit-sized compact. It was the first Mitsubishi developed under the ownership of DaimlerChrysler, and by going back to roots of an affordable and sturdy compact that could take on the world. It was the first time the Colt name had been used in Japan for nearly 30 years, and it even spawned a Ralliart hot hatch variant making 161 horsepower.
Elsewhere in the world, the Colt name has been applied to a far wider range of Mitsubishis. In southeast Asia Delica-based trucks are called the Colt L300, and Fuso-based heavy duty trucks are called Colt Diesels, both of which were in production until 2022. So although the name came and went in Japan, there’s been a Colt somewhere in the world since 1962. There’s even an open-wheel race car called the Colt F2000. We can’t think of another nameplate that has taken so many different forms. Happy Year of the Horse!
