Mitsubishi Xpander will be available in Vietnam.
Representatives of the Japanese automaker have officially confirmed that they will bring the compact MPV model called Xpander to Vietnam, but have not yet revealed whether it will be assembled locally or imported, in the context of government policies that support domestically assembled vehicles.
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| The Xpander is a smaller MPV compared to the Grandis model that Mitsubishi distributed in Vietnam in the 2000s. |
The choice between assembling vehicles domestically (CKD) or importing completely built-up (CBU) vehicles is an extremely difficult one for any automotive brand in Vietnam, due to the technical barriers imposed by the Government on imported vehicles; the numerous and complicated regulations and technical standards (even Circular 03/TT-BGTVT recently issued requires additional documents), while domestic assembly requires sufficient production volume and capacity from component suppliers to avoid high production costs.
And even for Mitsubishi, the decision to assemble the Outlander domestically from mid-2017 saved the company from a complete defeat, as it still had a domestically assembled model to maintain market share, while all other fully imported models (from Thailand, Japan, etc.) had to be temporarily suspended, at least for the first half of 2018.
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| Information about the Expander has been revealed by Mitsubishi in Vietnam. |
Currently, the first Xpander vehicles have begun test drives in Vietnam, but detailed information about the engine and features has not yet been released by Mitsubishi. However, what the Japanese automaker has revealed is no different from when the car first appeared in Indonesia in August 2019: a 7-seater MPV, practical design, and a small, fuel-efficient engine.
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| Images show a Mitsubishi Xpander reportedly undergoing testing in Vietnam. |
Currently, in Southeast Asia, Mitsubishi manufactures the Expander in Indonesia with a single engine option: a 1.5L MIVEC I4 gasoline engine paired with either a 4-speed automatic or a 5-speed manual transmission, producing 104 horsepower and 141 Nm of maximum torque. In Indonesia, this model is priced from 189 million rupiah, equivalent to approximately US$14,100 (around VND 320 million).
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| Interior of the Mitsubishi Xpander model. |
And if it comes to Vietnam, the Mitsubishi Xpander will have direct competitors such as the KIA Rondo (priced from 609 million VND), the Chevrolet Orlando (from 639 million VND); previously, the market also had the Nissan Livina model, but it has now been discontinued.
