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Mitsubishi upbeat on city car Mirage
Indonesia’s authorized distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles, Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motors, is optimistic that its new “low-cost” city car, the Mirage, will get a positive response from the Indonesian market, following its warm welcome in the Thai market
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ndonesia’s authorized distributor of Mitsubishi vehicles, Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motors, is optimistic that its new “low-cost” city car, the Mirage, will get a positive response from the Indonesian market, following its warm welcome in the Thai market.
Krama Yudha plans to launch the Mirage next week during the Indonesian International Motor Show in Jakarta to compete in the country’s growing low-cost city car sector.
In the domestic market, the Mirage is expected to compete in terms of size and price with other city cars already on the market, including the Nissan March, Kia Picanto, Daihatsu Sirion, Suzuki Splash and the newly launched Honda Brio.
“We are optimistic about the Mirage’s launch on Sept. 20 due to growing Indonesian demand for a low-cost city car; just like the Thailand launch, the response here was good,” Daisuke Okamoto, Krama Yudha’s director of marketing, said recently on the sidelines of Mirage’s Thai version test drives in Bangkok, Thailand.
The Mirage’s average fuel consumption is 21 liters per kilometer, which Okamoto described as “low-cost”.
All this time, he added, Mitsubishi had been known as a producer of more expensive SUVs like the Outlander and Pajero Sports.
“That’s our challenge: to meet the demands of another segment of consumers who need low-cost city cars,” he said, adding that the Mirage would be introduced in Indonesia as an entry-level car. The Mirage will target young people, people just starting their careers and young mothers.
Ryujiro Kobayashi, corporate general manager at Mitsubishi’s Asia-Asean Office, said the affordable car would have adequate features for a city car.
Budi Dermawan Daulay, Krama Yudha’s marketing strategist, said some dealers had already accepted orders. However, he could not reveal the numbers yet as they were still collecting more orders.
Okamoto admitted that the biggest challenge was how to build the Mirage image into a “low-cost car” as opposed to a “cheap car”.
“We don’t want customers to think that it is a cheap car,” he said. “That’s why we have three variants for the Indonesian market, including manual transmission; to meet all levels’ needs.”
The car, which will be available in seven colors in Indonesia, will sell for between Rp 139 million (US$14,481) and Rp 165 million.
However, Krama Yudha refused to elaborate further on the Mirage’s specifications, saying that they did not want to spoil the surprise until the motor show.
Mitsubishi’s factory in Thailand, which produces around 600 Mirage units per day, will send 1,000 Mirages to the Indonesian market each month.
Indonesia’s car sales reached a high record last year, settling at 894,164 units, up 19.93 percent from 2010.
During January to August this year, sales amounted to 714,152 units, up 23.13 percent from a year earlier.
