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Mitsubishi on Thursday launched the "Xpander", a new 1.5 liter
MPV model, at an car show in Tangerang, on the outskirts of
Jakarta.
"We will export this car across ASEAN (Association of Southeast
Asian Nations) countries starting next February," Mitsubishi
Chief Executive Osamu Masuko said at the launch. The company
will start exporting to the Philippines, followed by Malaysia,
Thailand and Vietnam.
Indonesia overtook Thailand as Southeast Asia's largest car
market in recent years and is also growing as a regional
production base.
Mitsubishi aims to produce around 80,000 units of the new model
per year, and export 20,000 cars out of the annual production.
The Xpander "will be the first alliance model with
Renault-Nissan", Masuko said.
Last year, Nissan bought a controlling stake in Mitsubishi for
$2.3 billion after the smaller automaker admitted to cheating on
mileage tests.
"It will eventually be supplied to Nissan Motors for the
Indonesian market," Masuko said, adding that Nissan had yet to
decide the timing and the volumes it wanted. Nissan may also
have a different design for the car.
Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn in April said it was likely for
Mitsubishi and Nissan would do cross-manufacturing in certain
areas.
(Reporting by Cindy Silviana; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy;
Editing by Ed Davies and David Evans)
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