It's a sad day for those who love the Mitsubishi Eclipse. Production of the sporty coupe by Mitsubishi has officially ended. But one lucky charity will receive funds for the last Eclipse.

Production of the coupe began in 1989. For 22 years, the vehicle was one of the best selling Japanese import sports cars in North America.

Mitsubishi is auctioning off this final Eclipse at the annual St. Charles Auction, built by Mitsubishi North America as a special edition Coupe. The SE comes with a 3.8-liter V6.

The automaker connected to fans via Facebook for input on this last model. It includes: Kalapana Black paint, SE lower side graphics, Dark Agent wheels, HID headlights, sunroof, leather interior, and a ton of interior upgrades. As for entertainment, the Eclipse comes with 650w Rockford Fosgate 9-audio system, rear-view camera and Bluetooth interface.

Mitsubishi Motors VP of Marketing & Product Planning, Greg Adams, stated: "Our goal with this Mitsubishi Eclipse SE was to create a very special car that would best honor the closing of this vehicle families' chapter, built at our Normal, Illinois facility. We believe this one-off 2012 Mitsubishi Eclipse SE will become a highly collectible automobile and we are excited to work with Mecum Auctions to offer it to collector at their high-energy events."¹

Sad about the Eclipse leaving Mitsubishi's line up? There are still plenty of amazing vehicles to check out at Bill Penney Mitsubishi in Huntsville, AL.

Source: ¹http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/09/06/last-mitsubishi-eclipse-auction/