New Mitsubishi Outlander Japan’s best-selling SUV

Since its home market launch in October 2005, the all-new Mitsubishi Outlander has amassed more sales than any other SUV in Japan, placing it not only ahead of its own sales targets but also well ahead of the competition.

Accumulated sales of 18,921 put new Outlander at the top of the 6-month October-March SUV sales chart, ahead of the Toyota Harrier and Toyota RAV4; Outlander was also top seller in November, December and February. Outlander’s closest rivals (Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail) each registered over 4,000 fewer sales than Outlander, which outsells the Honda CR-V by more than three-to-one. With an original sales target of 2,000 per month, new Outlander’s to-date sales figure represents an achievement rate of almost 160%.

A little over a year after Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s new business plan was announced, the consistently strong sales of new Outlander show how confidence in the Mitsubishi brand - with an enviable heritage and fresh approach to design - is rapidly returning. Another Mitsubishi newcomer, the cleverly-engineered and futuristically-designed ‘i’, is also posting impressive sales figures. In its first month of sales, ‘i’ sold to 6,025 customers, against a target of 5,000.

Mitsubishi sales in Japan have now increased every month (when compared to the same month of the previous year) for the last 11 months (May 2005 to March 2006)****. When placed within the context of an increasingly competitive Japanese market that actually shrank slightly in 2005 (4.75 mio sales in CY 2005 vs. 4.77 mio sales in CY 2004)****, these results are even more significant.

New Outlander will soon be making a similar impact in export markets: its debut at the New York Auto Show on April 14th will be followed by its European debut during the first quarter of 2007. Landing right in the heart of the European mid-size SUV segment, new Outlander will doubtless make a contribution to the increasing success of Mitsubishi Motors in Europe (whose sales of 265,685 in 2005 represented an increase of 17.7% vs. 2004).