The strategic decision to hold back pricing details until mid-October has largely been responsible for only 951 cars being delivered, but dealers are holding a very strong order bank that is continuing to grow daily. Consequently, Mitsubishi is expecting a strong November 380 result as sales flow through.

Mitsubishi dealers have stated that the response to 380 has been “phenomenal” and are reporting unprecedented floor traffic and test drives. They are saying that customers are very happy with the car; they are particularly taken by its looks, and its driving characteristics and handling. Both 380 GT and LX are now in tight supply, and the sporty VRX is also proving popular.

Customers are coming from a wide variety of sources, with trade-ins of Mazda, Honda, Nissan, Ford, Holden, Jeep and a multitude of SUVs being commonplace.

The late release of the pricing information had also caused a delay in fleet managers establishing lease rates etc, but their calculations have now been completed. The pleasing fact is that the residuals that have been set are very competitive against Falcon and Commodore, meaning fleet sales are now just starting to build.

However, it wasn’t only 380’s sales that helped Mitsubishi register a 6% lift in sales month-on-month (it is currently running 12% ahead of YTD sales year-on-year).

Lancer continued to post strong results in the Small Car segment, and its 1383 sales is 26% up on September 05, and 46% up on October 04. The introduction of the 2.4 MIVEC engine, and general revision to the model line-up are the major reasons for the improvement.

Launched at virtually the same time, Lancer Evolution IX also got off to a good start with 84 sales being recorded in October. This is a great start towards the 500 units the Company expects to sell each year as a fully homologated model.

“It was a much better month for us in October, with our market share increasing to 6.2%, which is against the trend of some of the other major brands,” Director of Sales and Marketing, Tony Breugem, said.

“With only a couple of weeks sales since the release of our new 380 in the middle of the month, we didn’t really have a chance to get the full benefit in October. I am looking forward to the results at the end of November, given the reaction to the car in our dealerships. And, I am sure that the recent release of NRMA Insurance’s 2005 Car Theft Ratings that show the 380 is clearly the most secure locally manufactured car will only add to the car’s appeal,” Mr Breugem said.