Mitsubishi Motors Philippines continues its positive streak

MANILA, Philippines - Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) sales continue a favorable trend in spite of the slump in auto sales worldwide caused by the global financial crisis. MMPC posted an impressive 31.3% increase for the first seven months the year compared to the same period last year. Total vehicle sales in the Philippines for the same period is slightly weaker by 2.4% compared to last year. MMPC sold a total of 12,959 units from January to July accounting to 18 percent market share or 4.6 percentage points higher than its market share attainment last year.

MMPC also posted increases in all of the industry categories. Mitsubishi passenger cars grew by 13% with the sales improvement in Lancer 1.6 and Lancer EX 2.0 models. Light Commercial Vehicles increased by 33% due to Montero Sport, Adventure, Strada and L300 models while Fuso Trucks and Bus models also grew by 32%. With this performance, MMPC maintained its ranking as the 2nd best selling automotive brand in the Philippine market.

This notable growth in MMPC’s sales performance can be attributed to its exciting new vehicle line up, which was further enhanced with the intro of the new Montero Sport 4x2 and the manual transmission version of the 4x4 model. The Montero Sport continues to draw interest not only in the SUV segment but other vehicle segments, because of its best value for money proposition. For the passenger cars, MMPC expanded its Lancer EX line up with the introduction of the CBU Japan made Lancer EX GLX and GLS 2-liter models and also recently the newly upgraded Galant SE model.

Another key factor to MMPC’s growth attainment is the increase in financing sales given the aggressiveness of banks/financial institutions even for entry level buyers, such as small – medium entrepreneurs and also OFWs which have shown growth with their remittances in spite of the financial crisis. Lately, banks have also been complementing their aggressiveness with heavy promotions offering low interest rates and fast approvals for vehicle loans.

Aside from its notable sales growth, MMPC recently achieved a significant accomplishment in Customer Service and Sales Satisfaction by ranking highest in both J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009 Philippines Customer Service Index ^SM (CSI) in a tie and Sales Satisfaction Index ^SM (SSI) studies respectively. The J.D. Power Asia Pacific studies serve also as a powerful tool in deciphering the needs and behavior of customers given their diverse perceptions and expectations.

The 2009 Philippines CSI Study measures the overall satisfaction of vehicle owners who visited an authorized dealer/service center for maintenance and repair work during the first 12 to 24 moths of ownership. Mitsubishi ranks highest in a tie among the 11 manufacturers included in the study. Mitsubishi scored 814 on a 1,000-point scale. The industry average is 802 points. The study revealed that in terms of service quality Mitsubishi has performed particularly well. Service quality has the greatest impact on overall customer service satisfaction.

For the 2009 Philippines SSI^SM Study, MMPC attained the highest score of 841 on a 1,000 point scale. J.D. Power 2009 Philippines SSI study measures new-vehicle owner satisfaction with sales and delivery experience and examines seven key factors that contribute to overall satisfaction. Delivery process, delivery timing, salesperson, paperwork, deal, sales and dealer facility are the factors evaluated. MMPC credits these achievements to their continuous effort in providing training to their employees and dealers to ensure quality vehicles and services are delivered to every customer.

MMPC President and CEO Masahiko Ueki is naturally pleased. “We are very pleased about our sales achievement for the first seven months. Also ranking highest in a tie in the J.D. Power Asia Pacific CSI and ranking highest in the SSI study is indeed an exceptional accomplishment and we in MMPC and our dealers would like to express our fullest appreciation to our customers for their continued patronage to our vehicles and services. These achievements will serve as our motivation in further seeking improvement in providing full satisfaction of our customers. We will also see to it that our current vehicle line up and future introductions will continue to have sound engineering and performance, exciting styling, reliability, and most of all great value for money proposition,” Ueki said.