Mitsubishi SUV Production By Model : 1997-2014

By Daljit Kalsi Wednesday, 19 April 2017

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This is one area of production that has worked well for the company. Mitsubishi have been strongly involved with SUVs for a long time and it was a good move. People want this sort of vehicle and profit margins in this area are good. One can only wonder how Mitsubishi Motors would have fared had they not got involved with the SUV segment when they did. There is a broad range of vehicles from the company to cover the market comprehensively. Since 1997, the share of production has gone from 17% to 40%. 

The RVR was an MPV from 1991 until 2002 when the model run ended. When the model returned in 2009, it was a compact SUV! It's also now called the ASX. The Outlander started life as a medium sized crossover (also named the Airtrek), but the second generation became more SUV. The Pajero Sport (also Challenger and other names) was introduced in 1996, is based on a pick-up truck which is a cost effective way as it shares much with the donor vehicle.

The next current major SUV is the medium sized Pajero, which has been around since 1982. Production volumes have been very consistent over the years. The small SUV known as the Pajero iO came along in 1997 and finished in 2015. Mitsubishi also make a Jeep in tiny numbers, which is the same as the Willy's version and a vehicle I know nothing about otherwise.

Of those no longer made, the Pajero Mini is a Kei sized SUV that went from 1994 to 2012. Finally the Endeavour was a mid-sized SUV aimed at the North American market but it never achieved what was expected and was not replaced.

	RVR	Outland	Pajero Sp	Pajero	Pajero iO	Jeep	Paj Mini	Endeav	Total	%
	ASR	Airtrek	Challeng	Shogun	Pinin		Kix
			Sh/Mo Sp	Montero
97	-	-	51,594	136,941	13,934	1,167	43,302	-	246,938	17
98	-	-	71,562	95,675	54,411	717	48,791	-	271,156	20
99	-	-	95,914	90,524	61,111	413	36,580	-	284,542	21
00	-	-	92,475	138,315	43,409	622	24,895	-	299,716	22
01	-	21,245	78,337	91,700	25,949	820	16,590	-	234,641	19
02	-	68,431	69,001	112,161	21,639	322	12,672	10	284,236	21
03	-	77,331	34,258	90,929	20,509	591	17,141	48,987	289,746	24
04	-	60,817	30,515	79,152	22,805	566	10,307	19,448	223,610	21
05	-	76,647	24,373	69,142	9,412	581	10,445	22,403	213,003	18
06	-	119,091	22,825	75,933	8,624	435	9,436	18,097	254,441	21
07	-	183,217	25,480	112,103	9,805	420	9,279	13,465	353,769	26
08	-	140,497	28,745	57,903	8,280	435	17,033	2,316	255,209	24
09	6,915	104,379	44,103	48,055	10,440	534	11,195	5,401	231,022	27
10	134,004	131,261	60,103	66,569	10,110	562	9,165	6,444	418,218	39
11	145,608	103,368	74,938	61,603	10,380	765	9,681	8,607	414,950	40
12	150,111	110,726	99,318	42,170	10,530	534	5,862	-	419,251	37
13	160,805	133,862	101,040	57,781	9,060	532	-	-	463,080	37
14	180,151	146,148	127,737	56,732	4,500	502	-	-	515,770	40

Data source: Mitsubishi Motors