Mitsubishi Philippines names new president

MANILA, Philippines — Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) is aiming to grow its sales by 15 percent this fiscal year as it officially welcomed its new president.

During the turnover ceremony, incoming MMPC president and CEO Ritsu Imaeda said the Philippines is considered to be one of the most important markets for Mitsubishi Motors.

“The Philippines is one of the most important markets that is being highly focused with the expectation of its further growth,” he said.

Imaeda is replacing Takeshi Hara who served as MMPC president and CEO in the past three years.

MMPC first vice president for sales and marketing division Cesar Ramirez Jr. said the company is aiming to sell 94,000 vehicles for this fiscal year.

For fiscal year 2023 covering April 2023 to March 2024, the annual sales volume of MMPC zoomed by 34 percent to a record 81,473 units from 60,630 units in the previous fiscal year.

If the sales target is achieved, Ramirez said MMPC would secure 20 percent market share, based on industry sales forecast of around 470,000 units.

According to Ramirez, the Triton pickup truck launched last January would support the projected growth for this fiscal year.

He added that a new vehicle model, the X-Force sports utility vehicle, to be launched in June, is also expected to help drive higher sales.

“For Triton, our target is to at least sell 1,000 units a month. And for the X-Force, at least, I think, we’re planning to sell, to attain 10 percent of market share,” he said.

After the launch of X-Force, Imaeda said three additional vehicle models would be launched this year.

For MMPC’s top seller, the Xpander, Ramirez said the aim is to sustain the current volume of around 2,000 units a month.

MMPC also expects the locally assembled Mirage, Mirage G4 and L300 to boost sales.

Ramirez said the MMPC plant in Laguna achieved its highest production volume ever during the last fiscal year, having assembled 41,598 units.

While MMPC is aiming for higher sales, he said the imposition of excise tax on pickups would impact its performance as such would raise the cost of the Triton.

On the review of Executive Order 12, MMPC first vice president for corporate division Imelda Abadilla-Brown said the vehicle maker wants plug-in hybrid vehicles to be part of those with tariff reduction.

For MMPC, she said the tariff reduction should be applied based on the policy directions established by the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act, which includes hybrid vehicles and plug-in hybrid vehicles in its definition of electric vehicles (EVs).

“Regardless of the type of EVs, it still has a contribution in terms of fuel efficiency and emission reduction,” she said.