LCV
EXPRESS YOURSELF
MITSUBISHI IS BACK IN THE VAN MARKET AFTER A SIX YEAR HIATUS, THANKS LARGELY TO THE FACT THAT THE COMPANY IS NOW PART OF THE RENAULT-NISSAN- MITSUBISHI ALLIANCE, A FACTOR WHICH HAS GIVEN IT ACCESS TO RENAULT’S TRAFIC VAN AS THE BASIS FOR THE NEW REBORN MITSUBISHI EXPRESS. WE HAD THE EXPRESS FOR A WEEK RECENTLY TO SEE HOW MUCH OF FRENCH ACCENT THIS NEW MITSUBISHI HAS.
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he differences between the Mitsubishi and the Renault vans is minimal and is pretty much confined to a new grille, bonnet and badging and a delete option on the steel bulkhead which separates the cargo area from the front passenger cockpit. Apart from that the Mitsubishi has a distinctly French accent and Australia is the first market to get the Trafic rebadged as a Mitsubishi Express. When the company became a part of the Alliance four years ago local Mitsubishi product chief Owen Thomson was quickly putting his hand up for a version of the Trafic, because since the demise of the Express in early 2014 the company has been hurting when it came to light commercial fleets. Mitsubishi does well with its Triton
056 www.truckandbus.net.au
ute in the fleet business and has found itself missing out on deals with out a van. “Most fleets of less than 100 light commercials are made up of around 50 per cent light vans, so it is a reasonable slab of business that we wanted to be a part of again,” said Owen Thomson. Mitsubishi was always a very strong player in the light van market and so without one it has been missing out on a chunk of sales, albeit potentially a smaller slice of what has become an even more competitive market since it left. With the arrival of a new version of the market leading Toyota HiAce van, the strong performance of Renault’s Trafic, Peugeot’s re-entry to the segment with its Expert, the surge in sales for Hyundai’s ever improving ad very capable iLoad models and Ford’s
popular and extremely capable Transit and so on. Most of those models were either not there when the Express was last sold here or were bit players in the market. Asked how it will differentiate the Express from the Renault model it is sourced from and Owen Thomson says Mitsubishi has a much bigger and more established dealer network while the Express will carry a five year warranty compared with the three year warranty offered on the Renault. While pricing will be very similar between the two brands, Mitsubishi says the total cost of ownership thanks to cap price servicing as well as that size and extent of the dealer network will be the main drivers to differentiate the pair. The Express is sourced from Renault’s
