Mitsubishi next-gen showrooms soon in Cebu

CEBU, Philippines — Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corporation (MMPC) signed on Monday a Memorandum of Understanding with its five dealers aiming to roll out a next-generation showroom, the Dendo Drive Station, in the Philippines.

Union Motor Corporation, Fast Autoworld Philippines Corporation, Motorplaza Inc., SFM Sales Corporation and Mindanao Integrated Commercial Enterprises Inc., signed a deal with Mitsubishi to set up the solar powered Dendo Drive Station, which features a vehicle to home (V2H) equipment, a system that can supply homes with electric power stored in EV/PHEV batteries.

This system allows Electric Vehicles (EVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) to charge at the showrooms as well as to supply electricity from EVs/PHEVs back to the showrooms.

The station is equipped with solar panels, bi-directional chargers, storage batteries and inverters that enable power charging to EV/PHEV through solar power generation at the same time feeding power to the outlet by EV/PHEV.

Mitsubishi Motors opened the first next-generation showroom in Tokyo in 2016 and since then it has opened 79 showrooms throughout Japan.

MMPC aims to open Dendo Drive Stations in five regions in the Philippines while the company introduces the Outlander PHEV, Mitsubishi’s flagship PHEV SUV, in the Philippines by the end of 2020.

Xavier Eyadan, VP for Product planning of MMPC, said that one of the five DDS will soon be put up in Cebu within the year.

The DDS aims to promote better understanding of EVs/PHEVs in the country and support the development of the country’s automotive industry and the local economy.

“Similar to Japan, the Philippines is a country that often experiences many natural disasters,” said Osamu Masuko, MMC’s chairman of the board in a statement.

“I believe with the technology of the Dendo Drive Station, communities will be provided with a dependable self-sustaining power source that does not only generate efficient energy supply but also serves as a reliable electrical source during emergency power shortage,” he said.

DDS can offer cleaner electric vehicle charging, help stabilize the local electricity supply grid and even provide electricity after a natural disaster or power outage.

In addition to charging vehicles, DDS allows the EV/PHEV’s battery to provide power to the building in times of high demand or an emergency. The building will then switch to charging the car at times of low grid demand, or when renewable energy production is at a peak. This has major benefits for the grid and provides cheaper, sustainable power for the EV/PHEV owner.

The Outlander PHEV represents the accumulation of Mitsubishi Motors’ decades of engineering breakthroughs, including four-wheel drive (4WD) in 1936, electric powertrains in 1966 and rugged SUVs during the 1980s.

The vehicle offers a combination of low environmental impact, Super-All Wheel Control active safety, proven reliability and low operating costs.

Since its official global launch in 2013, the Outlander PHEV has been rolled out to more than 50 countries.

“The Outlander PHEV will soon be available in the Philippines, although global sales have already reached more than 230,000 units,” Eyadan said in an interview.

The company’s flagship plug-in hybrid has become the world’s best-selling PHEV*2 and Europe’s best-selling PHEV for four years in a row (2015-2018).

The Outlander PHEV can also be used to provide emergency power.

It said that during the 2016 Kumamoto and 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquakes, Mitsubishi Motors’ groundbreaking SUV was able to operate as a mobile source of electricity to assist the community.