New Mitsubishi ASX in line for Australia – but in what form?
Mitsubishi acknowledges it is in a race against time to find a successor to its ageing ASX small SUV for Australia, which is 13 years old – and well overdue for replacement.
A decision on the future of the Mitsubishi ASX small SUV once the current model reaches the end of the road may be made in the coming months.
The global boss of Mitsubishi told Australian media the company wants to introduce a successor to the ASX, which is now 13 years old – twice the usual lifespan of a passenger vehicle before a new model arrives – and one of Australia’s top-selling small SUVs.
However it is still unclear the form the replacement vehicle will take, and if it will be a Mitsubishi-designed model – or a rebadged Renault.
MORE: Mitsubishi ASX replacement under a cloud for Australia
In a briefing with Australian media, Mitsubishi global CEO Takao Sato shut down the possibility the ASX won’t be replaced, and said reducing Mitsubishi Australia to a three-model line-up (Triton, Pajero Sport and Outlander) – if the ASX and Eclipse Cross are dropped – would be a “concern” long term.
“I want to introduce [a new] ASX into Australia,” he said.
Executives said they are “seriously studying” succession plans for the strong-selling small SUV, and hope to reach a decision that can be announced to the public “maybe by the end of this year”.
Among the options available to the brand is a rebadge of the Renault Captur city SUV sold in Europe as a Mitsubishi, and a new small SUV designed for South-East Asian markets with less strict safety standards, which would need upgrades to perform well in independent Australian crash testing.
Whichever option Mitsubishi chooses, it is in a race against time as executives have warned the current Mitsubishi ASX may not meet future safety and emissions standards due to come into force in Australia in the coming years.
When asked if today’s ASX would still be in showrooms in 2026, Sato-san told Australian media: “2026 would probably be difficult.
“Recently a lot of new regulations [were] issued, and … once [they are] announced, sometimes the schedule is advanced, but sometimes the schedule is delayed. So it’s very difficult to judge that.
“But if we look around the [current] ASX it might be difficult to continue to 2026. Before that, we need to [evaluate].”
Among the new rules referenced by the top Mitsubishi executive is a requirement for pedestrian detection for the autonomous emergency braking system, and a possible mandate for lane-keep assist technology – neither of which today’s ASX offers.
Sato-san expressed concern Australians would see through the European ‘Mitsubishi ASX’, which is a basic rebadge of a Renault Captur that differers only in the badges and front grille.
“It might be possible to introduce this model into Australia, but I’m not very sure if it can be a success or not,” he said.
“People know that is a vehicle from Renault and not a real Mitsubishi, and I’m not very sure if it will be very well accepted by the Australian market.”
MORE: New Mitsubishi ASX revealed for Europe is a rebadged Renault
Meanwhile, the small SUV for emerging Asian markets – based on last year’s Mitsubishi XFC concept – could be sold in Australia, but it is not expected to earn a high score in independent safety testing as it has been engineered to meet less stringent safety standards overseas.
The upgrades required would be costly, and may only be relevant in Australia and New Zealand as Mitsubishi is not expected to sell the car in many other countries where similarly-strict independent crash-test standards apply.
When asked why Australian requirements was not considered during development of the vehicle – when it could have been an ideal ASX replacement for local showrooms – Mitsubishi global vice president of product development, Hiroshi Nagaoka, told a media conference:
“The XFC concept … is based on the current Xpander [people mover] platform that’s really focused on ASEAN [South-East Asian] markets and some other countries, but not Australia, New Zealand or those developed countries.
MORE: Mitsubishi XFC Concept unveiled
“So honestly speaking, some of the equipment – electrical equipment, [electrical] architecture and so on – it’s not enough to comply with Australian regulations.
“If we want to comply with Australian regulations or other countries like the United States or Europe, we need to significantly modify those components or even the architecture itself,” the executive said.
“That’s why it’s a little bit difficult … to adopt the Australian regulations. But we are considering this, at least for the next generation, how to merge all of the world configurations into the one package.
“And then if we can utilise [that] kind of consolidation, we can deliver anywhere in the world … But we need to wait a little bit for that.”
He said: “We are already …. under advanced [early] engineering [for the next generation], but it takes at least some years … At least four years or maybe after, but those timeframes [for the next model cycle].”
However waiting for a new vehicle four years away would see the 2026 date missed – by which time the current Mitsubishi ASX may no longer be legal for sale – and there could be a gap between old and new models.
When asked if there will be a new Eclipse Cross – a slightly larger sibling to the ASX on the same ageing underpinnings, which are derived from an mid-2000s Lancer – Sato-san said: “That is also the issue for us to study, and right now we are studying internally.
“ASX and Eclipse Cross are a similar size, so maybe we should converge to one model, or [should they remain] defined models? That is currently under study, and under consideration for us now.”
Reiterating Mitsubishi’s commitment to Australia – and an intention not to leave the small-SUV segment behind – Mitsubishi executive vice president of sales Yoshihiko Nakamura told media near the end of the conference:
“Australia is a very, very important market for us.
“And for Mitsubishi Motors this year, next year, the year after – 2023 to 2025 – we have a three-year mid-term plan called Challenge 2025, and during this three-year period we decided to focus on the ASEAN countries.
“So we will introduce new models like this new Triton, the XFC concept, or other cars [that] are coming together with hybrid [power for Asia].
“But this year, we are seriously discussing about … the year 2026 and after. We cannot survive only with ASEAN countries, we have to survive together with global [markets], including the Australian market.
“So we are very seriously discussing what the model line-up should be there – including Australia – after 2026 … but we cannot clearly say [yet what our plans for Australia are].
“But of course, maybe within this year, if everything has been decided internally, we would like to come back to you and explain more clearly what kind of model line-up there will be for the Australian market.”
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