Mitsubishi 380 hanging in the balance

The countdown has begun and decisions must be made soon on the mid-life update and upgrade of the 380, and any car that will follow it into production at the Mitsubishi Motors Australia factory in Adelaide.

Company chief Rob McEniry has just been in Japan for an extensive series of meetings, including planning work on the 380, and expects to have the car's future clarified by head office soon.

He is reluctant to talk about a likely replacement for the 380, which is struggling against its big-six rivals the Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon and Toyota Aurion, but admits the car's future will be determined next month or early next year.

“As I said last year, at the end of 2007 Mitsubishi would be going through its normal model cycle and mid-term planning phase and that's when we'd look at replacement or potentials for the 380, and that's exactly where we are,” McEniry says.

Mitsubishi remains committed to local manufacturing and has several options for the future including a replacement for the 380 based on the Concept-ZT, and possibly a smaller car. However, details are yet to be assessed. Although the Mitsubishi 380 sales results are well below original predictions, the Adelaide-based vehicle operation has underpinned its future with strong sales of its imported range.

The Triton, Outlander and Pajero off-roaders are popular and the just-launched two-litre Lancer sedan is expected to gain a strong following based on its $20,990 price and standard inclusion of electronic stability control.

Mitsubishi plans to fit stability control to the 380 by mid next year.

Despite the struggling 380 sales, Mitsubishi executives describe it as “approaching the segment average” for private sales.

Results of only 1000 a month are putting pressure on the car's viability and a large portion of the car's sales have been to fleets. However, McEniry denies Mitsubishi is building only for fleet orders and says the 380 special editions such as the Platinum and Sports models had been popular with private buyers.

Mitsubishi hopes to sell more than 10,000 380s this year. So far it has built 8170, down from 9603 for the same period last year.

McEniry says the 380 can continue despite its low build rate.