A jump in price, less variety, and increased competition in the small SUV market will stymie popularity of the new-generation Mitsubishi ASX, the brand has conceded.
Mitsubishi Australia has conceded the new-generation ASX small SUV – a rebadged Renault Captur – will not be able to capture the same market share as its predecessor, which started $13,000 cheaper.
The original ASX – in production for Australia from 2010 to 2025 – could be had from as little as $24,490 before on-road costs, but the move to a more advanced, European-made vehicle has seen the entry point surge to $37,740.
Speaking to journalists at the ASX’s local launch, Mitsubishi Australia General Manager of Product Strategy Bruce Hampel would not be drawn on a projected sales figure, but acknowledged it would be lower than the popular first-generation model.
“We’re not expecting the same volume that we’ve enjoyed in the previous-generation ASX, but we won’t share our specific volume target,” Hampel said.
“We have focused our offering to a more targeted consumer than the broad-brush approach we had previously.
“Saying that, the world now, the market now, is very different, with a lot of incremental competitors with very attractive products at very competitive pricing.
“We anticipate we won’t get back to the full volume that we enjoyed previously, but exactly where we are targeting, we won’t disclose. But hopefully we will see over the coming months what the initial reaction is once the vehicle goes on sale.”
For context, in 2024 – the last full year the first-generation ASX was on sale – the Mitsubishi small SUV found 12,330 new buyers, for a 15 per cent share of its market segment.
The ASX was the fifth most-popular model in its class last year, despite being one of the oldest new cars still on sale in Australia, based on underpinnings dating back to the mid-2000s.
ASX sales peaked in 2019 with 20,806 vehicles, accounting for 21.3 per cent of the segment, and outselling its nearest rival by more than 7000 units.
However, the brand has also claimed that more affordable variants were volume sellers with fleets, not private buyers – the target of the new ASX – who often opt for higher-grade variants.
The sales split in 2024 saw 62 per cent of all ASX volume accounted for by private customers, leaving 38 per cent as fleet buyers.
Hampel said the fleet-sales portion of the market will not be a major focus for Mitsubishi with its new ASX, shedding nearly 40 per cent of sales.
“We had a very diverse line-up – seven variants from very low cost, simple, manual transmission – and that was for a subset of the market, fleets predominately, but that was very low volume for us,” Hampel said.
“That was a price leader for us, a $26,000 headline number, which we measured against, but that wasn’t really a volume seller for us – it wasn’t a vehicle private customers were buying.
“They were buying LS, that’s the more standard mainstream volumes, and the equivalent LS is only about a $7000 cost increase – so not quite as large a jump as some of the headlines that have been out there.
“As the brand evolves over the next three to five years, we will see whether this was the right move, and we will potentially iterate as time progresses.”
Mitsubishi has removed the base GS grade, as well as the ES, MR, and GSR versions of the ASX. The 2026 line-up will start with the LS, and move up to the Aspire ($42,690) and Exceed ($46,490).
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
