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Mitsubishi aims for top three spot with Xpander
Mitsubisihi is going on the offensive in Indonesia this year by challenging other top Japanese car makers such as Toyota, Daihatsu, Honda and Suzuki with the Xpander its latest multipurpose vehicle (MPV), which is already proving to be a big hit after only six months
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itsubisihi is going on the offensive in Indonesia this year by challenging other top Japanese car makers such as Toyota, Daihatsu, Honda and Suzuki with the Xpander its latest multipurpose vehicle (MPV), which is already proving to be a big hit after only six months.
PT Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yudha Sales Indonesia (MMKSI), which distributes cars for the top Japanese brand in the country, hopes to sell 140,000 units this year that consist of passenger cars and light commercial vehicle, up almost double on its 2017 sales.
Out of the total target sales, the MMKSI expects to sell 94,000 passenger cars with the help of its seven-seater Xpander competing in the MPV market segment.
Mitsubishi Motor Corp. ranked fifth in term of car sales in Indonesia behind Toyota, Honda, Daihatsu and Suzuki with a 7.4 percent market share in 2017, according to the Association of Indonesia Automotive
Manufacturer.
The association predicts that car sales in 2018 will only increase marginally to 1.1 million units from 1,079,000 in 2017, which means that Mitsubishi’s ambition, if realized, will come at the expense of other players.
Last year, Mitsubishi sold 79,669 units in total, 18 percent more than the previous year, again at a time when the overall Indonesian car market saw slow growth.
Out of total sales, it sold 36,025 passenger cars around 48 percent more than the passenger cars sales in 2016.
“It was driven by the impressive sales of the Xpander that surprisingly became our new backbone,” MMKSI president director Kyoya Kondo said on Thursday.
Mitsubishi’s Pajero Sport has been its best seller in the past, with 20,843 units sold in 2017.
But within the four months since the Xpander hit the road in August, Mitsubishi had sold 11,840 units and many orders had gone unfulfilled with customers being put on a long waiting list as it had only prepared to supply 4,000 units a month.
Mitsubishi’s Xpander is a latecomer to the MPV market, the most lucrative segment in Indonesia.
In November, the Xpander was already challenging Toyota’s best seller the Avanza, which sold 10,070 units within a month, with 4,882 units of the Xpander being sold.
It placed the Xpander second after the Avanza in monthly sales in the low MPV segment.
Imam Choeru Yahya, MMKSI’s head of sales and marketing group, said Xpander sales this year should reach 70,000 units or half of Mitsubishi’s total target for the year.
“Since the MPV is the biggest segment, we want to be one of the top players in it. Our hope is to be one of the top three car sellers in this segment,” Imam added.
MMKSI said it had received orders for 55,000 Xpanders, while it could only supply 4,000 units from its assembly plant in Cikarang near Jakarta. The company now plans to increase production by up to 10,000 units per month.
Last year, 1.07 million vehicles were sold in the market, increasing by 1.6 percent from 2016. (roi)
