Mitsubishi Motors (MMC) has introduced the locally assembled Xpander Cross in Vietnam, following launches in Indonesia in November 2019, as well as in the Philippines and Thailand in March 2020.
The Cross is the top variant of the Xpander, built initially for ASEAN markets in Indonesia, and it was, MMC claims, the best selling small multi purpose vehicle (MPV) in Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam in fiscal 2019/20.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Since launch in Indonesia in 2017, total sales passed 260,000 units in June 2020.
"The addition of the Xpander Cross will further strengthen MMC competitiveness in ASEAN, one of the company's strategic regions under the new framework of the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance," MMC said in a statement.
Yoichiro Yatabe, co-chief operating officer of MMC, said: "Vietnam is an important market that supports MMC's growth strategy in the ASEAN region."
The Xpander Cross' claimed class best ground clearance of 225mm enables users to drive through a wide range of terrains with confidence, MMC said.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataSales of the standard Xpander started in Vietnam in October 2018 and around 27,000 had been sold by the end of June 2020.
MMC started work on US$600m factory in May 2015 in Jakarta's satellite city Bekasi to build the Xpander which was designed for ASEAN countries.
The plant, opened in April 2017, took the carmaker's Indonesian production capacity to 240,000 units per year.
The model was initially exported from Indonesia to the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam from February 2018.
Six months later, MMC said it would lift annual output to 120,000 units and hoped to raise this by 30,000 in fiscal 2019.
In October 2018 it said it would hike capacity to 220,000 by 2020.
In September 2019, MMC said the Xpander would be assembled in Vietnam.
The OEM operates a knockdown kit assembly plant in partnership with Mitsubishi Corporation in southern Binh Duong province with annual capacity of 5,000 vehicles.
In January 2018, MMC told media it planned a second plant with annual capacity of 30,000-50,000 vehicles.
