Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross fast-tracked for Oz
Importer has applied pressure to overworked factory for Qashqai rival to get here soonerAustralia will be among the first markets in the world to see the Eclipse Cross in Mitsubishi showrooms when the SUV arrives here towards the end of 2017.
The importer has stressed to its parent company, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC), that the new model is an important addition to the local range and has to be supplied here post haste.
According to Tony Principe, the Executive Director of Marketing at Mitsubishi Australia, the local launch schedule for the Eclipse Cross was brought forward from 2018 to accommodate the request.
"We managed to convince [a visiting MMC executive] that we wanted to be one of the first countries; 'please do everything you can', and [he] went back there and said: 'okay'," Principe explained to motoring.com.au during the launch of the Outlander PHEV last week.
"We are a priority; I think they see us as pretty important. But it's like everything, at the end of the day they've got to look at production capacity, because production capacity is an issue for them."
Principe says that the supply problem is due to the strong, continuing global demand for ASX and Outlander models, which are produced in the same production plant.
"They've got production issues – because basically the ASX and Outlander are already at full capacity… so they've got to sort out how they fit us in somewhere."
According to Principe, however, some Outlander production has been transferred to another plant to overcome the lack of production capacity, taking up the slack left by falling Pajero sales around the world.
"Globally there's been a drop in the large SUV [sales numbers]," he explained.
"So they've done all those things and they're still hitting a ceiling, so I guess once the Eclipse Cross comes they're going to have to have a rethink about all their production facilities – and we're not privy to what's happening between them and Nissan, because obviously the Mizushima plant also builds the little kei-car, which is shared with Nissan.
"They don't tell us exactly what's moving from where to free up whatever."
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