Mitsubishi: Early Eclipse CUV Sales Promising

SOUTHFIELD, MI – Mitsubishi’s new Eclipse Cross CUV went on sale in late February in the U.S., and early results are promising, says a company official.

“We’re transacting at a very high price,” Melvyn Bautista, manager-product management at Mitsubishi Motors North America, tells WardsAuto. “The customers that are being brought in have much more household income than what we’re used to seeing with our current vehicles.”

Bautista says a sample count of 150 early sales reveals an average transaction price in the $26,000-$27,000 range, thanks to strong demand for well-appointed mid- and mid-high grades.

The SE and SEL models, priced at $26,395 and $27,895, account for 50% of initial Eclipse Cross sales, while the base ES model, the only trim level to offer standard front-wheel drive, is $23,295 to start and makes up 25%-30%.

“Versus our other (models) it’s totally flip-flopped,” Bautista says, adding 65% usually is the share of the base grade.

Mitsubishi also retails an ES with AWD for $23,895, and LE and SEL Touring grades costing $24,895 and $30,395, respectively.

The Eclipse Cross tallied 653 deliveries in the first quarter, Wards Intelligence data shows, but Bautista notes those largely were made in coastal regions. It wasn’t until April that each of Mitsubishi’s 359 U.S. dealers had at least one of the CUVs to sell on their lots.

Bautista says the average transaction price is close to that of a Mazda CX-5, which Mitsubishi considers a target of the Eclipse Cross.

“With the CX-5, they’ve got much better customers, the perception from the industry that the car is very sporty, fun to drive, very dynamic.

“The overall consumer perception (of the CX-5) is what we’re after,” he continues. “We’re not competing against the (Toyota) RAV4 or the Ford Escape. There’s such a big pool (of buyers) in the (small CUV) segment so we’re trying to get whatever we can.”

Mazda sold 42,817 CX-5s in the first quarter, up 75.7% from Q1 2017 and no doubt boosted by the CUV’s heavy refresh for the ’17 model year.

The Eclipse Cross lives in Wards Intelligence’s Small CUV group due to its slightly shorter overall length than the midsize CX-5. In the Small CUV group the Jeep Compass was the top seller in Q1, with 43,520 sales; the RAV4 was the No.1-selling Middle CUV in the U.S. in the year’s first three months, with 91,459 deliveries.

Mitsubishi is switching focus from a traditional mix of SUVs, CUVs and cars, some of which were aimed at racing enthusiasts, to almost all CUVs (only one car remains in the lineup, the subcompact Mirage) while also making a push toward electrification.

It’s “almost like re-launching the brand,” says a spokesman, noting Mitsubishi is trying to figure out a way to capture the interest of the “boyracer” crowd who loved the defunct Lancer Evo.

“Maybe some of those guys from 10 years ago…maybe they’re getting into their 40s and they’ve got a family,” he says of the appeal an Eclipse Cross or one of Mitsubishi’s other CUVs, the small Outlander Sport and the midsize Outlander and Outlander plug-in hybrid may hold for that buyer.

Meanwhile, the small Japanese automaker’s joining of the Renault-Nissan Alliance means the Eclipse Cross will be the final vehicle in its lineup with a Mitsubishi-developed platform.

“It’s a revised current platform of the Outlander and Outlander Sport, but then moving forward all of our other new models coming out (are) going to be with a Nissan (platform),” Bautista says.

The Outlander Sport is due to get smaller in the future to create distance between it and the Eclipse Cross, but he is unsure what Nissan platform it will ride on.

Nissan retails two small CUVs globally, the Juke and the Kicks. The Juke rides on Nissan’s old B platform, while the Kicks is on the new CMF-B platform, Nissan North America’s Michael Bunce told WardsAuto last November.

“We’re not sure (of) the next-generation platform yet,” Bautista says. “Europe is still selling the Juke, and then a lot of the other global markets take the Kicks. I’m not quite sure exactly the direction of how that’s going.”

The Mitsubishi exec says his North American unit is being given more decision-making input under Renault-Nissan’s leadership and that it also is taking an early look at what Mitsubishi variants may spring out of the alliance’s planned 12 electrified models by 2022.

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