Mitsubishi turning it around

New car sales have fallen, but Mitsubishi is lining up new models to help it to regain market share, as motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE writes.

First, the bad news: Mitsubishi's share of the new-car market in New Zealand so far this year is down 19 per cent on last year. The good news? Things shouldn't get any worse.

At the end of October last year, Mitsubishi had sold 5924 vehicles for a 9.5 per cent share. Six weeks ago, in a market largely similar to 2000, it had sold 4675, for 7.7 per cent.

This year hasn't been kind to Mitsubishi. It has been in damage-control mode since head office in Japan admitted that it had been telling porkies about vehicle recalls.

The Japanese Government was so grumpy that, as punishment, it forced Mitsubishi to delay the launch of the high-performance Evolution VII.

Then Mitsubishi's American division was sprung for fiddling sales figures. It was selling cars to people who didn't exist, using names such as Enzo Ferrari, Anna Kornacova, Supa Mann and Buoy Wander.

Next came more controversy over the future of Mitsubishi's assembly plant in Adelaide, which builds cars for New Zealand. Would it close or would it be rationalised, doing more for less? Would thousands of Australians be out of a job?

Nothing has been decided yet and won't be until the replacement for the Magna/Diamante is approved in the next few months.

But if the plant's long-term future is confirmed - and things apparently look promising - it might also export the new Magna/Diamante to Japan. Mitsubishi Japan will stop making its domestic Diamante in 2005 and might take up to 7000 cars a year.

Adelaide might also end up building right-hand-drive Chryslers.

DaimlerChrysler owns 37 per cent of Mitsubishi and wants to boost its line-up of Chrysler models in Australia and New Zealand.

Making use of Adelaide would provide Chrysler with a plant outside America capable of supplying smaller right-hand-drive markets.

At one stage, Chrysler in Australia was so desperate for models it talked of rebadging and restyling a Diamante for launch in 2003. This plan was put on hold until the all-new 2005 Diamante replacement is signed off.

But it could surface again. The chances of the 2005 Diamante being rebadged as a Chrysler and sold in Australia and New Zealand are better than 50:50, according to Chrysler executives.

Meanwhile, Chrysler-Jeep Australia managing director Judy Wheeler has confirmed that the company will import right-hand-drive versions of the all-new 300M luxury sedan in 2004. The rear-drive 300M will compete against the Holden Statesman and Ford Fairlane. New Zealand will get the 300M too.

Mitsubishi New Zealand admits the reputation of the company has suffered, mostly over the recalls fiasco. As a consequence, the sales year started slowly. The company kick-started things towards the middle months with an unprecedented five-year/150,000km warranty on cars and light commercials. But that deal ended in August. In 1992, Mitsubishi became the first carmaker in New Zealand to offer a three-year/100,000km guarantee.

Now it wants to finish the year with a flourish. Toyota, Ford and Holden are the frontrunners in the sales race, streets ahead of Nissan in fourth place and Mitsubishi in fifth.

In a couple of weeks, Mitsubishi will launch the new Mirage. Previous Mirage models were big sellers in the small-car segment, but Mitsubishi largely abandoned it a couple of years ago, selling 23 in 1999 and one last year.

It now wishes it hadn't - small cars account for about 19 per cent of the overall market.

The other day it unveiled a competitor, the all-wheel-drive Airtrek, described as a "crossover vehicle bridging the gap between macho four-wheel-drives and conventional family sedans".

The Airtrek has just been released in Japan, and New Zealand is the first export market to get it. Mitsubishi reckons it's the bee's knees.

"We have been delighted with the response," said sales manager Peter Wilkins. "The first two shipments have been sold out.

"Our focus is on the all-wheel-drive model. We believe that will be the vehicle that will grab the market's attention. But we are also landing a few two-wheel-drive models as well."

Think of the Airtrek as a slightly smaller and more modest version of the Audi Allroad and as a competitor for the Subaru Forester and Honda CR-V, among others.

It pretty much has a walk-through flat floor, sits higher on the road than conventional sedans and wagons, and rides on MacPherson strut suspension in the front and a multi-link set-up in the rear. The 16-inch alloys are shod with 215/60R tyres.

The Airtrek's 2-litre, four-cylinder engine produces 93kW at 5500 rpm and 173Nm of torque at 4500 rpm, modest output compared with its rival lifestylers.

Drive goes to all four wheels via an intelligent manual/automatic transmission and the same pump-driven centre differential used in the lickety-split Lancer Evolution VII. The gear lever is amidships, in an instrument cluster below the dashboard.

Under normal driving conditions, drive is split 50:50 between the front and rear wheels. When things get slippery, drive goes to the wheels with most grip. All-wheel-drive provides safe handling with predictable understeer.

The interior is one of the car's strengths. It is clean and uncluttered, with supportive seats and plenty of storage.

An adjustable armrest folds up out of the way between the front seats. The seat cloth appears made for hard work and the dash itself is a model of minimalism.

The rear seats split 60/40 and the rear itself has 402 litres of luggage space. Fold the seat backs flat and the load area can hold 1049 litres. Under the rear floor is a handy storage box.

The Airtrek comes with pretty much everything a lifestyler needs - Kenwood stereo/CD, dual airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners, air-conditioning, foldaway wing mirrors, anti-lock brakes, central locking, 12-volt socket ...

The all-wheel-drive model costs $39,990, the front-wheel-drive $35,990.