TOKYO – The Philippines remains an important market for Mitsubishi Motors Corporation because of its growing market, Osamu Masuko, president, said in an interview at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show last week.

In the Philippines, Mitsubishi's market share increased to 18 percent this year, despite the gloomy predictions on the economy due to the global financial crisis. The number is up by 30 percent from last year's sales performance. That puts Mitsubishi Motor Philippines Corp. as the top performer in the Mitsubishi world, according to Froilan Dytianquin, AVP for marketing services.

Mitsubishi can expect a bigger market share in the coming years as new models are being prepared to be launched in the Philippines soon. One of them that will be launched in the coming years, will be the Global Small, a 1.1 liter that will join the entry-level passenger car category. By the end of the year, MMPC will likely introduce another variant to a popular model.

During the same interview, the Mitsubishi president observed that there will be no growth in the market in Japan primarily because young people are not very interested in vehicle ownership and don’t seem to view not owning one as inconvenient. “I thought that this was only a trend in Japan, but we also began to observe that in other countries in Europe and the U.S. The efficient mass transport system brings them to where they want to go,” he said.

His observation was also expressed by the chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), Mr. Satoshi Aoki, who said in a press statement: “Interest in automobiles among the youth is weaker than in past years, but we must make every possible effort to demonstrate the attractiveness of, and dreams associated with, automobiles, to young people who will become important customers in the future.” New programs were included in the Tokyo Motor Show to attract young visitors.

But the Mitsubishi president said he does not see a growth in the auto market in Japan initiated by the youth. He said the biggest reason is financial because it is very expensive to own a vehicle in Japan. “I used to live in a place where I had to pay 52,500 yen (about $500) a month as parking fee for only one car. So I moved to another apartment where I pay only 22,000 yen, still a big amount for only one car,” he said.

In the Philippines where parking fees will certainly not reach anywhere near those figures, car ownership remains to be a strong aspiration for the young.

At the Tokyo Motor Show, Mitsubishi looks ready to add an electric vehicle to the Philippine market, if the government identifies that as the alternative fuel technology for its requirements.

At the Mitsubishi booth stands the i-MiEV, the world’s first production electric vehicle equipped with lithium-ion batteries. It was launched in July this year and 600 of those have been sold to corporations and municipal governments in Japan.

During the interview, Mr. Masuko said Mitsubishi is not only concentrating on developing electric cars for alternative fuels program, but also on other technologies that will fit the needs of a country. One of them is the flex-fuel vehicles (FFVs) which can be powered by ethanol. The Mitsubishi president said they will launch the Lancer FFV to run on E85 (85 percent ethanol), in response to the Thai government’s policy on ethanol.