A wave of new products will see Chinese brands like GWM, BYD, and MG replace Mitsubishi at the top of the pops.
Mitsubishi Australia has conceded it will, in the short-term, be unable to hold its sales position amidst Chinese brands making moves to cement themselves as some of the top players in Australia.
Just last year, Mitsubishi Australia was a Top Five brand, but to the end of September this year, the Japanese brand has not managed to keep 2024’s pace and sales have decreased 16.4 per cent to 47,650 – relegating it to sixth position.
At the same time, Chinese car brands like GWM, BYD, and MG have all made bold promises to race up the sales charts to rub shoulders with the likes of Kia, Hyundai, Mazda, and Ford.
The Chinese makes have all backed these claims with fresh products, and more to come, but Mitsubishi has only just rolled out its second-generation ASX – some six months after the first model was discontinued – while the next all-new product, the successor the Pajero Sport, is more than 12 months away.
This situation means Mitsubishi will lose ground and its ranking to competitors, the brand’s General Manager of Product Strategy Bruce Hampel told Drive.
“We’re forecasting a five per cent decrease year-on-year this financial year, but what we’re seeing is a number of entrants competing for that volume is increasing,” Hampel said.
“Just the pure math dictates that the share of any particular OEM [original equipment manufacturer] – of the established OEMs – will decline.
“We’re being realistic, that’s just math, our share will decrease.
“We did enjoy a number five position in ’24, we’ve hovering around fifth position at the moment, but by year-end, I think if we can stay within the Top 10, we’d be OK.”
Currently behind Mitsubishi on the sales charts is GWM and BYD, who have increased sales by 23.7 and 149.8 per cent so far this year.
However, Mitsubishi does not plan to stay down the rankings board forever, with its ‘Momentum 2030’ plan promising fresh metal by the end of the decade to better position itself against other brands.
Hampel said Mitsubishi also needs to balance bringing the right products at the right time, as well as shoring up its existing customer base to ensure sustainability.
“Saying that, we also need to compete, we need the products,” Hampel said.
“We’re going through a transition period, out of the older legacy products with ASX, Pajero Sport, and Eclipse Cross, and we’re now starting to progressively move into the next generation of Mitsubishi vehicles.
“We’ll be focussing on customer experience over the next 12 months, really doubling down on our brand loyalty we have with our extensive car parc in the country, and the consumers that we have.
“But we won’t be getting into a pricing war or any sort of those scenarios to try and mute some of the aggressive actions by the rest of the competitors in the market – that’s not motivating us at this point in time.
“We need to make money out of our business here in Australia, so that’s the key focus for us, ‘how do we make the business in Australia profitable?’
“And that may mean enjoying a smaller overall share than what we’ve had.
“We are focusing on key segments that have been our historic strongholds, and we’re looking to just fortify our position in those segments through the coming 12 months.
“With a longer view, that two-to-five-year time frame, to make sure that the product portfolio will get back and grow back to and beyond where we were 12 months ago.”
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
