The Mitsubishi Group is a Japanese conglomerate of companies that includes finance, manufacturing, chemical production and more - over forty companies in total. Mitsubishi was a central figure in the modernization of Japan in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first Mitsubishi company was founded in 1834 as a shipping company, but the Mitsubishi name would not be adopted until 1870. Mitsubishi produced its first automobile in 1917 and is credited with much of Japan’s financial and technological boom of the 1950s and 60s.
Mitsubishi Motors was established in 1970 and in 1971 sold a 22% stake to Chrysler as a method of expansion. This strategy worked quite well, sales of Mitsubishi autos increased from 250,000 to over 1.5 million by 1989.
Off road racing has always been a fascination for Mitsubishi, and between 1992 and 2007 they piled up some 12 victories at the Dakar Rally including seven in a row from 2001-2007, the longest streak in history. They have also won 34 World Rally Championship titles, winning six in a row from 1995-2001, only to be beaten in 2002 by a Proton Pert - a modified Mitsubishi.