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We went to one of those supermarkets where people put on old Ivy League sweat shirts to shop. It was one of those buppie-yuppie places, where the parking lot often plays host to expensive foreign metal. We drove a 1999 Mitsubishi Diamante luxury sedan. We didn’t fit in.

Therein lies a problem for Mitsubishi Motors Corp. in general and the Diamante in particular. The company makes good cars, and the Diamante is one of them. But as an automaker, the company is an entity without presence producing products without image.

No presence plus no image yields no sales — or, at least, next to none, which is why Mitsubishi holds a scant 1.25 percent of the U.S. auto market. And it wouldn’t have that if it didn’t have sport-utility vehicles to sell in a market gone truck crazy.

The problem? Mitsubishi suffers from ACD — Acute Chutzpah Deficiency, a dangerous lack of audacity and originality that, if left uncorrected, could lead to oblivion.

The 1999 Diamante is symptomatic. This is a luxury car with all of the luxurious touches — tan leather interior, premium sound system, 10-way power driver’s seat, fade-up/fade-out interior lighting, power windows and doors with remote locking system, four-wheel-independent-suspension system, four-wheel power disk brakes with anti-lock braking, the works. But in that upscale supermarket parking lot, it was a loser.

There were, for example, several BMW cars parked around the Diamante. You didn’t have to see the name “BMW,” nor did you have to see the famous BMW propeller logo, to figure out what those cars were. Their shape and appearance, their very aura proclaimed BMW. It was an auto-connect.

And it wasn’t just the foreign stuff. A Lincoln Town Car and Cadillac DeVille sedan rolled up, both bearing diplomatic license plates, and you didn’t have to think twice about what those cars were. Ditto the Lexus, Saab and Volvo cars that entered the lot.

But the Diamante? What’s that? A car with a front end that resembles a BMW’s, side panels that look like nothing, and a rear end that looks like an amalgam of an Oldsmobile’s and a Lexus’s. Adding to the Diamante’s dismal homogeneity were 16-inch alloy steel wheels with full covers, truly sporty things that would have been more at home on a Detroit muscle machine.

The interior continued the rainbow-coalition theme — a bit of Europe about the instrument panel, a lot of Detroit in the fake wood grain, and the best of Japan in the Lexus-like mating of vinyl and leather.

Luckily, the engine was all Mitsubishi. The company is one of the world’s premier engineers, and the 3.5-liter, 24-valve V-6 installed in the Diamante is one of the best examples of its work.

The engine is designed to kick out 210 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 231 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm. It is connected to an electronically controlled, four-speed automatic transmission, and it’s an absolute hoot to drive.

But let’s not fool ourselves. Most luxury cars come with darned g ood engines, transmissions and suspension systems. Yet, some of them sit in dealers’ showrooms while others zoom out the door. The difference is chutzpah. When you’re spending that kind of money, you want people to know it and a car that will show it. The Diamante doesn’t.

1999 Mitsubishi Diamante

Complaint: Mitsubishi is a conglomerate, of which its auto business, Mitsubishi Motors, is a part. That gives the car company a good financial cushion. But, I suspect, it also contributes to lousy design. The Diamante, for example, appears to have been styled by corporate committee. There is no feeling, no karma to the car.

Praise: Mitsubishi knows engines. I can’t say enough good things about the Diamante’s 3.5-liter V-6. The best thing about this car is getting in it and driving, which tends to make you forget what it looks like.

Ride, acceleration and handling: Triple aces. This very definitely is a long-distance runner — brilliant in the curves and aggressive on the st raightaways. Excellent braking.

Head-turning quotient: Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

Capacities: Seats five passengers comfortably. Holds 19 gallons of recommended premium unleaded gasoline. Trunk capacity is 14.2 cubic feet.

Mileage: About 22 miles per gallon in mostly highway driving. Estimated range was 408 miles on usable volume of fuel.

Safety: Standard stuff including dual-front air bags and side-impact door beams.

Price: Base price is $27,199. Dealer’s invoice price on base model is $24,205. Price as tested is $32,330, including $4,661 in options and a $470 destination charge.

Purse-strings note: A good car stymied by lackluster styling, and, in its price range, swamped by the competition. Consider Acura 3.2 TL sedan, Lexus ES 300, BMW 5-Series, Volvo S80, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Cadillac Catera, Oldsmobile Aurora, Mazda Millenia.