Once known for the Pajero and Lancer Evolution, what will Mitsubishi be famous for now?

Mitsubishi has had a storied history in Australia, switching from a local manufacturer to full-time importer years before the likes of Toyota, Ford and Holden made the changeover.

But in 2022, against big name brands like Mazda, Hyundai and Kia, how is Mitsubishi Australia differentiating itself from the competition?

According to Mitsubishi Australia boss Shaun Westcott, the plan moving forward is to highlight its strengths in SUVs and off-road technology, as well as ambitions to move a little more upmarket.

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“Part of what we looking to do as a brand is reposition ourselves in the market,” he said.

“Mitsubishi has been in Australia for 40 years, and inherent and deeply embedded in our roots in Australia, but also in our DNA as a company, is the fact that we have been building performance high-calibre and high-quality vehicles, going all the way back to Lancer and passenger vehicles.

“As the market has evolved to more SUVs, we have proactively evolved as well.

“A few years ago, when we were starting to exit the passenger market, people were going ‘are you crazy? What are you doing?’

“And in those days, Holden and other companies, were still deeply embedded in passenger cars.

“We had read the market correctly, and that’s what we bring along with us – not only the technology of the past – but it’s the DNA that comes with winning Dakar rallies, and embedding that in our cars moving forward.”

With iconic nameplates like the Pajero off-road SUV and Lancer Evolution performance sedan now confined to the pages of history, Mitsubishi will leverage its reputation as an adventure brand to stand apart from the competition.

“What is Mitsubishi known for? It’s our four-wheel-drive capability,” he said.

“What do we stand for as a brand? We stand for fun and adventure and lifestyle.

“And our vehicles, whether it be the Pajero Sport or even our Outlander, they have that capability inherent in them that we believe sets us apart from our competitors.”

Mitsubishi Australia will exit the passenger vehicle market this year with the wind-down of sales of the Mirage hatchback, as well as the Express van, and focus solely on SUVs, crossovers and utes like the ASX, Eclipse Cross, Outlander, Pajero Sport and Triton.

The brand will also focus on its environmentally friendly plug-in hybrid engine technologies, as seen on the Eclipse Cross and soon-to-launch Outlander, as a point of difference to rival brands like Toyota, who offers ‘self-charging’ series parallel hybrid tech.

However, while Mitsubishi Australia was the first brand to bring in a mass-market production electric car, in the form of the i-MiEV, it has no concrete plans for another EV in the near future to the take on the likes of the hot-selling Tesla Model 3, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and others.