The Tredia was a small front-wheel drive sedan which took over from the rear-wheel drive Lancer in 1982. Along with the Tredia, there was also the Cordia which had a sleeker coupe bodystyle and sat on the same platform.
Assembled in Malaysia, the Tredia was available with 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre engines. A unique feature was the Super Shift transmission which Mitsubishi Motors had first introduced in the Colt in 1980. This manual transmission had two levers – a longer one to select one of the four gears and a shorter one for Power or Economy. This gave the driver 8 forward gears to choose from, just like the Economy and Sports modes in today’s cars, except that selection was done manually.
It was an interesting and novel approach – a bit like the system of High and Low ranges in a 4×4 vehicle – but in daily driving, it proved to be pointless. Everyone else went for a 5-speed transmission to extend the ratios and get reduced revs at high speeds to save fuel. Many drivers found that the easy way was simply to shift up through the gears in Power and then when 4th was reached, switch to Economy, just like a 5-speed transmission.
The Mitsubishi Division of Cycle & Carriage which marketed Mitsubishi vehicles proved the economical benefits by entering economy runs with the Tredia and Colt and won the events. But eventually, the Super Shift transmission faded away quietly.
The Tredia was the last model which Mitsubishi Motors launched in Malaysia before it stopped selling cars below 1.8 litres after 1985. Though Mitsubishi vehicles were popular, the automaker chose to stay out of that market segment after it was accepted as a partner in Proton, the new Malaysian national car company. This unusual move was to demonstrate its commitment to the project to develop the first Malaysian National Car, by not selling a competing model.
However, the larger 2-litre Galant continued to be sold while light commercial vehicles and 4×4 models like the Pajero were handled by United Straits Fuso (USF).
After Mitsubishi Motors was no longer involved in Proton by the late 1990s, Mitsubishi Corporation established Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia in partnership with Edaran Otomobil National (EON) in 2005.
