This badge-engineered Japanese-built turbo sports coupe arrived in the U.S. market for the 1984 model year, giving Chrysler shoppers a rare rear-wheel-drive performance car with styling and hardware that stood apart from the company’s usual compact and midsize lineup. It was part of Chrysler’s long-running relationship with Mitsubishi and was essentially the domestic-market version of the Mitsubishi Starion, sold here with only branding and minor trim differences.
For its first three model years, the car was offered through Plymouth showrooms alongside its Dodge twin. It occupied an unusual niche for the brand: more expensive and more performance-oriented than the average Plymouth, and aimed at buyers who wanted a sophisticated import-style coupe rather than a conventional American pony car. Its turbocharged four-cylinder powertrain, intercooling, and independent rear suspension helped give it a genuine enthusiast following, especially among shoppers looking for something different from the typical V8 formula.
The Plymouth-badged run ended after the 1986 model year, when Chrysler shifted the car to its own premium brand for the final years of production. That makes the Plymouth version a short-lived but memorable chapter in the marque’s history, remembered today as one of the more distinctive captive imports of the 1980s.