During times of economic distress, we all must cut back. Even large, recognizable companies, whose products and brand are instantly known, are cutting costs and streamlining their workflow. For Mitsubishi, the industry-wide cutbacks resulted in the closing of tuner Ralliart, which was closely associated with the automaker.

Fortunately for customers at the Mitsubishi Bloomington car dealer, according to the automaker’s spokesperson Maurice Durand, the close won’t affect Ralliart-branded Mitsubishi models sold in the United States.

The reason is because the closure applies only to the Ralliart subsidiary in Japan, which produces high-performance parts for street and race cars. Therefore, only manufacturers that import official Ralliart Japan products will be affected. In most markets, the Ralliart parts are merely rebranded components produced by another tuner.

Thus, for a Bloomington Mitsubishi dealer, the closing will signal no drastic changes, especially since the parts used on official Ralliart models sold in the U.S. are developed separately.

However, according to Durand, Ralliart vehicles might still have a future as Mitsubishi might continue producing them. For hardcore tuners, the closure of Ralliart might be considered a loss. Yet, in the current economic climate, people have drastically altered their car-purchasing habits. The demand for high-performance parts has declined, a reality confirmed by employees at a Bloomington car dealer.

The specific services and processes scheduled to cease due to the closing include the company’s support to motorsport customers (Technical Support and Mitsubishi/Ralliart Driver of the Year award); new planning, development, and merchandizing of Ralliart products; and dispatching of new product and motorsport information over the internet.

The only Ralliart products continuing production are the FIA VO parts with Mitsubishi also taking on all those remaining in development. Information concerning FIA Group-N will also now reside on the Mitsubishi website.

When the dust clears, the majority of customers at the Bloomington Mitsubishi dealer wont be affected by the change. Without a doubt, Mitsubishi will mourn the loss of this long-standing partnership. However, its dedication to customers remains strong, and the automaker will keep producing the official Ralliart models in the U.S. to meet ongoing demand.