How Mitsubishi plans to rebuild European sales

After reversing a decision to quit Europe, Mitsubishi Motors now believes it can rebuild its vehicle sales in the region to close to pre-pandemic figures with the help of alliance partner Renault.

Mitsubishi targets annual sales of 130,000 in Europe by 2024, the automaker's European head, Frank Krol told Automotive News Europe, giving the automaker about 1 percent market share.

The goal is about double the company’s predicted final total in 2022 and not far from its 148,248 European sales figure in 2019, according to figures from industry group ACEA.

Most of the sales growth will come from Mitsubishi's new Renault-based models, a new Colt small car based on the Renault Clio and the ASX, which is based on the Renault Captur small SUV, Krol said.

The brand expects European annual sales to be 40,000 for the Colt and 35,000 for the ASX. The automaker will continue to sell established models such as the Eclipse Cross SUV.

"Our heritage is SUV-oriented, so for us the ASX is an important vehicle, but the segment for the Colt is bigger,” Krol said.

Mitsubishi unveiled the ASX on Sept. 20 ahead of its launch in March next year. The SUV will be sold with plug-in hybrid, full hybrid and mild hybrid drivetrains.

The company will continue to sell the Eclipse Cross compact SUV, as well as the Mirage/Space Star budget small car alongside the two Renault-based models, Krol said.

The Eclipse Cross was Europe's 10th best-selling plug-in hybrid in the first seven months, according to figures from Dataforce.

The Mitsubishi Outlander was Europe’s best-selling plug-in hybrid for a long time but the automaker stopped selling the SUV in the region last year and has decided not to export its successor in Europe.

The future of the Mirage will depend on whether Mitsubishi decides to spend money to homologate the budget car to comply with the GSR2 (general safety regulations) legislation mandatory for all cars sold in the EU from July 2024. The Mirage starts at 10,380 euros in Germany.

Further models for Europe will be decided next year when Mitsubishi unveils its latest three-year, midterm plan.

Electric vehicles will be critical to Mitsubishi’s European comeback, the company’s CEO Takao Kato said in a January presentation.
"In order to survive in Europe definitely we need an EV platform, so an EV will be very strong possibility for us," Kato said.

Mitsubishi said in 2020 it would leave the European market after struggling to be profitable in the region but reversed that decision a year later after Renault agreed to build two new models for the Japanese brand in Renault plants.

Mitsubishi will reduce its European markets to 17 by the end of 2022, down from 32 in 2019, as it continues to pull out of less profitable countries.

The automaker is in the process of cutting operations in Greece as well as in Balkan countries such as Croatia and Macedonia. The company pulled out of the UK and Belgium in 2020.

The company said its European operations was profitable the first quarter of the financial year, between April 1 and the end of June.