Mitsubishi sees 20% sales hike

MANILA, Philippines - Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) is expecting to increase sales by 20 percent this year with the introduction of new models, specifically the new small sized Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) sometime in August.

At the interview on the sidelines of the All New Mitsubishi Canter launch Friday night, Masahiko Ueki, president of MMPC said that their total sales target for the year is 27,000 to 28,000. Sales last year was 23,500 units.

Ueki said that the new SUV of Mitsubishi will be a cross between the CRV of Honda and Hyundai’s Tucson. It will be more expensive than Tucson but cheaper than the CRV.

Montero Sport remains to be the best selling model of Mitsubishi at 1,000 units per month. Meanwhile, the biggest selling locally produced unit is the Adventure.

Ueki said that they are trying to reduce the local costs by sourcing the parts and components locally rather than buying overseas. For Adventure, 60 percent of the parts are bought locally.

For the recently launched Fuso, Ueki said that their target is to sell 400 to 500 units annually. The total market is 2,000 units. The sales for this year for Fuso is expected to be lower than 2009 because it complied with the Euro II regulation.