The 2025 Xforce is Mitsubishi Motors Philippines’ first 5-seater crossover since the ASX and given it’s competing in a highly competitive yet fast-growing segment, the three-diamond brand believes it’ll play a vital role in pushing annual sales up to 94,000 units this year—up 15 percent from last year’s 81,473 units.
But which segment is the Xforce competing in, exactly? Who is the target market? Just how many are they planning to sell? Well, Allan Cruz, Senior Manager for Product Planning for Mitsubishi Motors Philippines answered those questions, and more.
A look at the Philippine auto industry shows that Small SUVs have been showing tremendous growth over the past five years. Cruz runs it down:
- FY19 – 33,728 units out of 378,615 units (9 percent)
- FY20 – 27,913 units out of 245,243 units (11 percent)
- FY21 – 39,350 units out of 283,534 units (14 percent)
- FY22 – 71,618 units out of 374,095 units (19 percent)
- FY23 – 79,508 units out of 439,440 units (18 percent)
However with the bulk of the volume playing in the P 1.3-million range—Mitsubishi thinks this is the sweet spot for the Xforce. In fact, a bulk of the sales will be brought on by the Xforce GLS (P 1,367,000) and not the Xforce GT (P 1,581,000).
As such, Cruz looks to the following as the Xforce’s main competition:
Overall, Cruz outlines three goals Mitsubishi has for the Xforce:
- Nissan Kicks (average monthly sales: 172 units)
- Hyundai Creta (average monthly sales: 132 units)
- Ford Territory (average monthly sales: 810 units)
- Geely Coolray (average monthly sales: 196 units)
Mitsubishi is already dismissing the likes of the Honda HR-V and the Mazda CX-3 as potential competitors due to their extremely low sales (68 units and 9 units per month, respectively).
Under this backdrop, Mitsubishi believes they can sell around 7,000 Xforces annually. All things equal, that 583-unit monthly average is enough for Mitsubishi to place third in the Small SUV segment just behind the Toyota Yaris Cross and the Ford Territory.
Overall, Cruz outlines three goals Mitsubishi has for the Xforce:
- Respond to the booming SUV demand
- Re-align the Mitsubishi brand to young families and “energetic” individuals
- Expand Mitsubishi’s model line-up in the Philippines
This brings up the Xforce’s product concept which is “Best-Suited Buddy for An Exciting Life.”
It sounds Japanized English, but the Best-Suited Buddy concept has three key aspects: Excitement, Comfort, and Practicality. Under Excitement, the Xforce relies on its Design, Drive Mode Selector, and the Yamaha sound system. For Comfort, it’s the Anti-Temperature Rise synthetic leather seats, 8-step reclining rear seats, a designed for ASEAN AC system with nanoe X, and the Active Yaw Control system. Finally, for Practicality, it’s found in its Advanced Monolithic Display (8-inch driver cluster, 12.3-inch infotainment screen), easy handling, and versatile storage spaces.
aside from features packed territory, main rival and biggest hurdle of xforce is the fully loaded yaris cross V at 1.3M(with ADAS) and yaris cross G at 1.2M(with 6 airbags). Yaris cross maybe not as refined, but features packed and pinoys always love toyota(even if its DNGA). Can you share to us the average monthly sales of yaris cross, also raize. Thanks
ReplyDelete^Yep, we will be waiting on Sir Uly's comparo review of this and the Yaris Cross V before making a decision. Hope it comes soon Sir Uly!
DeleteYou can already compare it to corolla cross G hybrid that was reviewed here
DeleteStop shilling the unrefined and low quality DNGA Yaris Cross too much here
DeleteMitsubishi Xforce is way more refined,safer,comfortable,better to drive,stylish and got better ground clearance than the DNGA Yaris Cross
Car buyers has spoken, Yaris cross dominates the sales charts, reliable, durable, features packed, lots of safety features, value for money, good after sales. Probably pricing of xforce has been benchmark against the kia seltos😁😁😁
DeleteIf the HRV and the CX3 are not selling well, what makes the xforce any different? Those competitors seem like the better options
ReplyDeleteBrand itself? Given that its platform mate Xpander is one of the best selling MPV's here it can be some sort of a leverage for the XForce, also clever use of the X naming. I feel like this car will sell as well as the Yaris Cross
DeleteWhat, the brand itself?? Seriously? The Mitsubishi brand isn't exactly sought after and has no more cult following because they only sell boring cars nowadays.
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