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Mitsubishi to hone its focus

Mitsubishi GR-HEV Concept.

An all-new Triton workhorse will turn the page for Mitsubishi as the Japanese brand moves quickly into a future based on SUVs and light commercials.

It will still have some passenger cars, but the focus will be on the most-profitable vehicles in its lineup and a new generation of models previewed last year with a motor show tease of the new Triton, Pajero and upcoming RVR.

All three concepts are coming as production models with the Triton first before the end of the year, company chief Osamu Masuko reveals to Carsguide during a visit from Japan to Adelaide.

“Our flagship car is the Pajero, and SUV is the vehicle that attracts customers.The best growth that we can see globally, both in developing and developed countries, is in the SUV segment. In particular, at Mitsubishi Motors, SUVs and LCVs are dominating our volume as well as profit,” Masuko says.

“Considering the size of our company we do not have the luxury of doing everything we want. We have to focus on several areas, which is SUV and the environment.”

Mitsubishi has already landed the PHEV hybrid in Australia and Masuko says there will be more green models to come, but admits there has been a lot of pain to put Mitsubishi on the right path.

“We have actually been striving to rejuvenate our company since 2005. And finally we have been able to provide dividends that were the first in 16 years.

“In the past the company went to the wrong path to the management. So they made some errors in the decisions. We have been working on restoration. That is a fact.”

Masuko says the change in direction, which means the end of cars like the Lancer Evo, is the only way for Mitsubishi to succeed.

“It’s not really the way to win if we were to compete the same way other companies are doing. So this triton is a very important vehicle for us, but PHEV is a new direction that is very important as well.

“We will start with Triton in Thailand in the end of this year and then we will start exporting. Now that we have identified we can achieve a PHEV for Pajero, we made the deicison to have a completley new Pajero.

“The new Pajero will be 2015 onwards. It will come with petrol, diesel, as well as PHEV.”