Mitsubishi Europe chief promises to strengthen lineup of low-emissions SUVs

Mitsubishi may be a small player in Europe, but in a declining market it increased sales 7 percent to 134,886 vehicles in the first nine months of 2019. The strongest growth is coming from the Outlander SUV, which is Europe’s best-selling plug-in hybrid. More plug-in hybrids are coming next year, promises Mitsubishi Europe CEO Bernard Loire, who joined last year from alliance partner Nissan. He spoke with Automotive News Europe Correspondent Nick Gibbs about the brand’s future.

Mitsubishi Europe posted strong numbers in the first nine months. What is driving the increase?
What made the difference is that Outlander plug-in hybrid sales have grown significantly. Through September we sold 27,000 units of the plug-in hybrid in Europe, compared with 15,000 last year. If we keep this pace, we will reach 36,000 for the calendar year, up from 20,000 last year.

Mitsubishi is doing well in Europe but sales in the UK, your second-largest market in the region, were down 14 percent if you remove the L200 pickup. Why?
Two key things have happened in the UK, the discontinuation of the plug-in hybrid incentive and Brexit has caused a bit of economic uncertainty. This puts a lot of pressure on the total industry volume and especially on the sales-channel mix. But we were anticipating UK sales would fall, and that decrease is offset by gains in other markets. For example, we are selling about 700 to 800 plug-in hybrids a month in Germany, up from about 200 to 300 a month last year.

Is the increase in Germany because of incentives?
Germany put in place an incentive for company-car users. It’s not as big as in the UK, but it clearly helped. However, most of our sales are done with private customers. Mitsubishi in Germany is one of the best performers in the private sector. [Mitsubishi says 69 percent of its German sales were to private customers in the first nine months compared with an average of 35 percent for overall market.] We ranked No. 1 in private-sales mix in September. Choosing a diesel or gasoline SUV is becoming a dilemma for some customers, therefore, some pick a very low-emissions SUV like the Outlander plug-in hybrid instead.

In the first nine months, Mitsubishi’s sales were up 51 percent in Italy and 40 percent in France. What is driving sales in those markets?
We have to admit that we started from a low base. France is a bit like Germany in that demand for the plug-in hybrid has completely exploded. We have sold 4,000 units compared with 1,000 units during the same time period 12 to 15 months ago. The increase in Italy is driven by demand for the Space Star [minicar].

One thing worrying government official throughout Europe is that many plug-in hybrids aren’t being plugged in, so they seldom run on electric power. Do you have evidence they are?
We have internal studies, and it’s clear almost all the cars are plugged in. Our owners charge at least once every three days.

How do you know that?
We conducted a survey.

When will Mitsubishi add another plug-in hybrid and what is your long-term goal for electrification?
In the second half of next year we will have a replacement of the current Outlander. It will be on an alliance platform. There also will be another smaller SUV coming at the same time.