Mitsubishi Motors Thailand Celebrates 60 Years with a Strong Commitment in Enhancing the Thai Automotive Industry and Society

Bangkok, March 18, 2021: In conjunction with its 60th anniversary, Mitsubishi Motors Thailand organized a media session to express its appreciation and thank Thais for their support for the past 60 years. The company also took the opportunity to launch the 60th anniversary ‘Special Edition’ models with an element of charity to give back to Thai communities. It also shared its forward moving plans with the media, reaffirming its strong commitment to Thailand and the Thai automotive industry.

Speaking at the ‘60 years of Mitsubishi Motors in Thailand and Way Forward’ event, Mr. Morikazu Chokki, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) Co., Ltd. said, “It has been 104 years since Mitsubishi Motors started making cars in 1917. Its incorporation in Thailand in 1961 was driven by an aim to make Thailand as its manufacturing center of Mitsubishi vehicles for domestic and global market. For over 60 years, Mitsubishi Motors Thailand has been a part of development and growth of the country through seven major pillars; employment, human resources development, investment, technology transfer, export, environment preservation, and social contribution. In 1964, we first started of car manufacturing in Thailand. Later in 1992, we started production at the No.1 factory in Laem Chabang. It has reached a production capacity of 424,000 cars per year, today. This makes Mitsubishi Motors Thailand the largest among Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s facilities worldwide.

“Besides, Mitsubishi Motors Thailand was also the first automaker to export Thai-made vehicles. From 1988 until today, we have accumulated the exported volume up to 4.4 million units to more than 120 countries worldwide. And we are pleased to announce that we have recently reached another important production milestones of 6 Million units. All these achievements are resulting from the support from our customers, suppliers, dealers, our media friends and the Thai government. Thank you very much for making this possible for us.” Mr. Chokki added.

Mr. Eiichi Koito, Executive Vice President, Domestic Sales and After Sales Unit, Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand) Co., Ltd. added, “For 60 years of Mitsubishi Motors in Thailand, there have been more than 1.7 million units of Mitsubishi vehicle on the road. We are truly grateful to all Mitsubishi Motors Thailand’s supporters. These include with our customers, all stakeholders and Thai government. To show our appreciation for their support, we would like to deliver happiness to Thais through various ‘60th Anniversary’ activities throughout the year. In addition to the ‘Celebrate 60th Anniversary of Mitsubishi Motors in Thailand, Give Away 60 Million Baht’, we will also launch the ‘Special Edition’ and the ‘Passion Red Edition’ models with the donation from the sales revenue of those units.

The first three models to be launched under the ‘Passion Red Edition’ are the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Mitsubishi Attrage and Mitsubishi Mirage, each with different shades of red. Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, the premium SUV with the new Medium Red color that represents our customers’ passions to go where other can’t and empower their ambitions to fulfill the ultimate experiences and happiness for their loved ones. Mitsubishi Attrage and Mitsubishi Mirage, both come with Red Metallic–Black Top and feature more distinctive and upscale styling with special decoration package ‘Special Edition’ that stand out from the pack, responding to the growing sophisticated needs of urban customers.

RED is chosen as it is the color of Mitsubishi Motors heritage as well as the color of Mitsubishi three-Diamond Logo. It is the color of legendary Mitsubishi Pajero, the twelve-time winner of the world’s toughest rally - Paris Dakkar. RED is also the color of Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, the king of World Rally Championship. From this champion legacy, the RED color represents “Mitsubishi Iconic Performance” that the world remembers. In application, it signifies Mitsubishi Motors Thailand’s passion to drive customers’ satisfaction, ambition, contribution to society and sustainable living.

The automaker will also launch a special and colorful ‘Mitsubishi Triton ‘Rukkit Edition’ as another ‘60th anniversary Special Editions’ model. This special model is a collaboration between Mitsubishi Motors Thailand and Mr. Rukkit Kuanhavej, a renowned street artist specialized in creating figurative language art with geometrical patterns. His strong passion and determination to explore new things and innovate new creation has brought him the world-renowned artist. His “never give up” passion mirrors Mitsubishi Motors’ ambition and determination for new innovation. With the collaboration masterpiece, this special model reflects passion and ambition through strong & colorful graphic on the powerful Triton, inspired by God of the Sea, named “Triton” It brings the birth of “THE GREAT TRITON” which makes this model the celebration of the passion for style. The model will be publicly unveiled at the 42nd Bangkok International Motor Show 2021.

“We are proud to support and work with Thai artists like Rukkit who create their masterpieces that represent their individual styles. This reflects our global tagline ‘Drive Your Ambition’, a core value that inspires passion and drives people to their success.” Mr. Koito concluded.

As a further show of appreciation and to give back to the community, Mitsubishi Motors Thailand announces a social contribution project which also allows customers to be a part of the contribution through the purchase of the 60th Anniversary Edition Models from 22 March to 31 December 2021. The total of THB 5,000 for every purchase of the ‘Medium Red’ Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and THB 2,000 for the three models; Mitsubishi Attrage and Mitsubishi Mirage ‘Special Edition’, and Mitsubishi Triton ‘Rukkit Edition’ will be donated in line with Mitsubishi Motors Thailand Foundation’s through 3 key focuses in “education”, “sustainable environment” and “health & wellbeing” of Thais.

Moving forward, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation’s three-year mid-term business plan focuses on growing its business in ASEAN, particularly in Thailand. Mitsubishi Motors Thailand has strong confidence in Thailand’s potential for economic recovery and domestic growth. The ongoing business activities have reported its further progress. One of that include its state-of-the-art eco-friendly paint factory that is now close to completion of building. It is slated to come online by the end of 2021.

To further the company’s direction on the environmental preservation, Mitsubishi Motors Thailand has been promoting the introduction of renewable energy since early 2021 with the operation of a Rooftop Solar Power System at the Laem Chabang facility.

In the field of automotive product development that will help solve environmental problems, Mitsubishi Motors Thailand introduced the latest model of the Outlander PHEV in Thailand last year. It was the first locally-made of Japanese plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The model is sold in more than 60 countries and its global cumulative sales volume has reached 270,000 units as of December 2020 and became No.1 PHEV SUV in European market in 2020. Toward a carbon-neutral society and smart energy, the study of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation reports that for the moment, PHEV is the most optimal option of powertrain in terms of the eco-friendliness when considering not only the tailpipe CO2 emission but the total CO2 emission through overall process from generating electricity and also vehicle production process.

Mitsubishi Motors Thailand will also continue to expand its dealer network for better breadth and depth. In this month, we will reach total of 240 dealer outlets nationwide covering every province in Thailand. The target is to increase this coverage to 250 outlets in 2021. This will allow the brand to deliver the best customer experiences. In 2020, it won three out of four TAQA awards for customer satisfaction.

For aftersales service, all Mitsubishi vehicles will be supported by the high quality and affordable aftersales service ‘Rao Doo Lare, Khun Khae Kab’ (We Take Care, You Just Drive), promising drivers access to Genuine Service, Genuine Parts, Genuine Technician, Genuine Performance and Genuine Network and Accessibility.

Additionally, customers will also be eligible for Mitsubishi Service Package that includes five-year free periodical maintenance services and five-year free roadside service. The automaker is also raising the aftersales benchmark by offering a five-year warranty and 5-year free labor cost as standard, with an option for Warranty Plus that extends the period up to seven years. This allows customers to enjoy Mitsubishi vehicles backed by reliable services with affordable cost of ownership and desirable resale value.

It will also continue to deliver its global tagline ‘Drive Your Ambition’ that calls for commitment to maximize customer satisfaction by connection with bold and confident drivers, and combining an adventurous spirit with progressive commitment to inspire and motivate.