Mitsubishi to hike prices due to peso slide

Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) on Monday warned of an impending price increase across its catalog, which the company blamed on the deterioration of the peso’s value against the dollar.

MMPC said it expected to raise prices “soon”—from passenger cars to trucks—by 3 to 5 percent or P10,000 to P20,000 per unit.

The company imports the Mirage, Mirage G4, Montero Sport and Strada from Thailand as well as the the Pajero, Lancer EX, ASX and Fuso trucks and buses from Japan.

Based on the company’s current price list, passenger cars are tagged at as low as P555,000 for the Mirage subcompact sedan with manual transmission and a 1.2-liter engine to as high as P1.26 million for the ASX compact sports utility vehicle with a 2-liter engine.

Mitsubishi’s light commercial vehicles presently go for as low as P595,000 for the L300 Delux Cab Chassis to as high as P2.76 million for the Pajero GLS automatic with diesel engine.

Also, trucks and buses go for as low as P1.15 million for the Canter light-duty truck to as high as P4 million for the 34-seater Rose Bus.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the peso traded at an average 47.51 for every $1 last January, fluctuating to P49.15 against the dollar in November.

As of press time, the peso was trading at a range of P49.67 to P49.75 to $1.