Mitsubishi one step away from the podium

Achieving the status of Australia's fourth best-selling automotive brand so far in 2017 doesn't seem like a massive feat – unless to do so you've overtaken former industry giants GM-Holden and Ford.

Mitsubishi is now in that position but the company is playing it cool, says Executive Director of Marketing, Tony Principe.

"It's [only] the first quarter... we're not chasing a position, we're chasing [sales] volume and [market] share,” Mr Principe told motoring.com.au during the launch of the Outlander PHEV earlier this month.

According to Mr Principe, rather than trying to reel in Hyundai to snatch third on the ladder (the Korean brand is very strong in passenger vehicles), a more realistic goal for Mitsubishi is to boost sales in the SUV and LCV classes, where Mitsubishi is highly competitive.

"We've got plans in place for all our SUVs… our intention is to become the major force in that SUV and LCV market. So the Triton, we haven't sat back... we obviously had a couple of months where the Triton dipped a little bit, and we came up with a new strategy, and it seems to be working.

"We want to be right up near the top of the tree for SUVs and LCVs.

"Obviously we can't ever beat Toyota. They're a long way away. They're number one, by a streak, but next – number two – is very close between us and Mazda.

"Right now, for the first quarter, we're neck and neck with Mazda. There is probably only a couple of hundred units between us for total SUV and LCV. Last year we beat them.”

Nevertheless, boasting your brand is number two in aggregate SUV and LCV sales is a qualified message unlikely to cut through with the buying public.

But deserving to resonate with new vehicle customers is Mitsubishi outselling Ford (which closed its Victorian manufacturing facilities late last year), and Holden (which will close its Elizabeth, SA vehicle assembly plant in October). By any measure it is a significant turn-around for Mitsubishi, which closed the doors at its Tonsley Park, SA plant back in 2009.

Mitsubishi seems to be aware a fourth place ranking in year-to-date sales is the result of the collective misfortunes of Ford and Holden as much as any strategy on its part. Furthermore, as Mitsubishi spokesman Karl Gehling observed, Ford and Holden may bounce back during the remainder of the year.

"We can't predict what they're going to achieve or how they're going to perform over a year, so you don't basically make your predictions on something you can't control,” Gehling noted.