2004 Mitsubishi Endeavor XLS for Sale in Long Beach, California

"Above all else: presence." The words come straight from Mitsubishi's press materials for the introduction of its new mid-sized SUV, called Endeavor. And the words are true to the effort. For sure, Endeavor gets an E for effort, for being designed and built by the North American team in the U.S. It's the fourth SUV offered by Mitsubishi, joining the entry-level Outlander, the rugged truck-based Montero Sport, and the more luxurious and highly capable Montero.

But Endeavor's intended slot between Montero Sport and Montero is thin and tricky. Mitsubishi doesn't dare say the Montero is now facing redundancy, just that Endeavor's overriding goal has been to produce "a vehicle that meets the needs of the U.S. market head on, without the repackaging of a Japanese domestic market product for U.S. tastes." In other words, it may be that Mitsubishi Motors North America created the Endeavor partly to show Mitsubishi Motors Tokyo that it can build, above all else, an SUV with presence.