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The Mitsubishi Diamante is a car manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors between 1990 and 2005. The first series was a hardtop introduced to the public at the Tokyo Motor Show in 1989. It went on sale in Japan exclusively in May 1990 and won that year's Japan Car of the Year award. It was created by splicing an extra 6.6 cm right down the middle of the Mitsubishi Galant, which itself had won the Japan Car of the Year award in 1987. The name Diamante was derived from the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian word for "diamond" and was adopted also as homage to the Mitsubishi badge. In Japan, this vehicle was sold at a specific retail chain called ''Car Plaza''. From 1991, a more conventional Diamante-derived Mitsubishi Sigma sedan was also built in Japan for its domestic and European export markets. It became the basis of the second generation Magna independently built in Australia. Its Australian luxury derivate, sold as the Verada, became the Diamante for export markets including New Zealand and North America a year later. The Wagon version was also exported including to Japan. There have been rumors that the Diamante was either not intended for a Japanese launch, or it might have been planned as a low-volume model. The reason for this argument is that until 1989, the width of vehicles was a vital indication of taxation class. The Diamante, being wider than the breakpoint, would have suffered a large tax penalty against most of its rivals, which were designed to be just under limit. At the time, Mitsubishi's image was also considered less than ideal for the marketing of a luxury car—its most expensive offering that the time, the Debonair, was largely seen as a company car project for Mitsubishi conglomerate executives. The Diamante's introduction was the result of the Honda Legend, which caught manufacturers by surprise when it appeared in 1986, inspiring the creation of the Lexus and Infiniti divisions, as well as various executive car class vehicles to be revised as a result. Mitsubishi needed to compete with the Legend and the Diamante was the result. However, the tax situation had changed in 1989, and the Diamante became the surprise hit of 1990. Amidst Japan's bubble economy, many private car owners sought an executive car in a market that had very few new offerings that year. == First generation (1990–1995) == The first generation Diamante was produced in three versions: * ''Four-side window hardtop'': a four-door hardtop with frameless windows that was built in Nagoya, Japan, and sold in Japan and North America. It featured advanced electronic aids such as four-wheel steering (4WS). * ''Six-side window sedan'': a more conventional variant built and introduced in Japan five months after the Diamante. It was called the Sigma and differed by having a slightly taller roofline, a six-window glasshouse, window sashes, revised front fascia and rear styling. It was exported to Europe and formed the basis of the second generation Magna/Verada sedan, which was independently built in Adelaide, South Australia. Its luxury derivate, the Verada was intended for the domestic consumption and primary export to North America (hence the longer bumper bars to meet the latter's more onerous crash standards). * ''Wagon'': this was the wagon version of the above-mentioned Australian sedan/s, introduced in 1993. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mitsubishi Diamante」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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