Mitsubishi raises sales target for 2013

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. has raised its vehicle sales target for this year to 45,000 units, following the successful introduction of the all-new Mirage G4 to the Philippine market.

On the sidelines of the Mirage G4 launching Thursday night, MMPC president and CEO Hikosaburo Shibata expressed confidence that the company would achieve this historic record sales of 45,000 units—representing a 25-percent hike from last year’s sales of 36,000 units—due to the warm public reception of its latest model.

Proof of this, according to Shibata, was the fact that they already received over 1,000 pre-orders for the model since Sept. 2. The company expects to sell around 1,000 units of the Mirage G4, or the Mirage Global four-door sedan, every month.

Designed to address the need for a practical and stylish compact sedan, the Mirage G4 offers wide cabin and trunk space, class-leading features and amenities.

It is available in six colors, GLS and GLX variants. The company also offers a choice between continuous variable transmission and five-speed manual transmission.

The compact sedan, which is a completely built-up unit from Mitsubishi Motors Thailand, will retail for P578,000 for the GLX MT; P628,000 for the GLX CVT; and P668,000 for the GLS MT. The top-of-the-line model, GLS CVT, is priced at P718,000.

Meanwhile, Shibata said MMPC is keen on further expanding the production capacity and model lineup of its facility in the Philippines. It is now waiting for the government to issue an automotive roadmap or program that will outline policy directions and incentives for the industry.

At present, the MMPC plant in the country produces 15,000 units of three models: the L300, Adventure and the Lancer.

“We are still trying to find the best model to add to our production here. We are also waiting for the roadmap from the government which will provide some kind of support. The Department of Trade and Industry and the Board of Investments are very supportive and the auto industry is in discussions with them. If we produce cars here, we can create jobs,” Shibata said.

“At this moment, we cannot commit anything unless we get government support. Right now, we are still studying future expansion of new models. We are waiting and eager, but these government programs has to be issued soon,” he added.

Details of the program regarding the incentives to be granted are still under scrutiny by the Cabinet’s Economic Cluster. Trade Secretary Gregory L. Domingo earlier sounded off plans to grant incentives to those that can produce 40,000 units per model per year. But Shibata stressed that this was “too much” considering that the local demand is projected at around 210,000 units this year.

“In the long run, we expect that the Philippine market will rapidly increase because the Philippine economy is very good.… We expect that by 2020, local vehicle demand is seen to increase to about 500,000 units,” he added.