Mitsubishi has launches its global small car Mitsubishi Mirage in Thailand in March 2012 and as per a media report from Bangkok Post, Mirage is quite popular within a few weeks of launch and has clocked over 20,000 bookings in less than 2 months of launch. This is an overwhelming response for a new car which has not even spent few months on the the roads. Mirage is a small car which will be sold globally by Mitsubishi across different automobile markets od East as well as the West. The Mirage is produced at Thailand at an assembly plant in Laem Chabang, Chon Buri province. Mitsubishi has installed a capacity to produce 1,50,000 Mirage cars per year which can be upgraded to 2,00,000 units if needed. The first batch of the production produced about 3000 Mirage small cars. In Thailand, the Mirage has been launched with a 1.2 Litre 3 Cylinder MPFI Petrol engine with a peak power of 77 BHP with a mileage of 22 KMPL on petrol, this car is compact in dimensions and has small turning radius to meet the needs of congested city traffic driving conditions.
image – Mitsubishi Mirage Global Small Car
Such a car makes a lot of practical sense for emerging markets like India, Brazil and other Asian countries where the demand of fuel efficient cars is high and traffic conditions and parking facilities are not very friendly for large cars. The Thai version of Mirage comes loaded with many features ad gadgetry including safety features also including the ABS and EBD. The pricing of the Mirage in Thailand has been kept approximately between Rs. 4.5 Lakhs to Rs. 6 Lakhs Indian Rupees (converted into Indian currency equivalent). The Mirage will be exported to Japan, Europe and other ASEAN markets later this year, Mitsubishi will ramp up production to meet the domestic as well as export demand for the Mirage.
Mitsubishi India and Hindustan Motors have expressed this many times that the small global car, Mitsubishi Mirage will come to India soon as they want to tap the potential of the Indian small car market segment in which they don’t have any existing product in India. Mitsubishi officials have also talked about making India an export hub for Mirage small car, which may happen in a couple of years as there are no fixed timelines revealed by them in regard of the Mirage launch in India. With the taste of initial success in Thailand, the chances of Indian production of Mirage look brighter than before and we expect it to enter India in a price segment of Rs. 3.5 Lakhs to Rs. 5.5 Lakhs where it will compete with many popular cars like Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, Maruti Swift, Honda Brio etc.
To make Mirage a equivalent success in India, Mitsubishi will need an diesel engine variant in India for the same as the demand for Petrol cars in India is gradually falling and demand for diesel cars rising, the reason behind this shift in demand is the huge difference in the petrol and diesel prices in India which makes the running cost of a diesel car almost half of the running cost of an equivalent petrol car. We will keep an eye on the developments of Mirage for India and will keep you posted on the same, stay tuned for latest updates.
