Mitsubishi Motors Indonesia is reportedly planning to boost production of its Xpander model despite the majority of analysts expecting a slowdown in the global automotive industry.
According to The Jakarta Post, the leading auto manufacturer's local unit, Mitsubishi Motors Krama Yuhda Indonesia (MMKI) will increase the Xpander's production capacity to 160,000 units by 2020. Currently, the firm is producing 120,000 units but demand for the model is growing and the company is looking to cater to the hike in orders.
"Last year, we received requests from our customers to accelerate Xpander delivery because the indent [waiting time] was a bit too long," president director of Mitsubishi Krama Yudha Sales Indonesia, Naoya Nakamura, said.
The automaker has yet to announce if it will also boost production on other models such as the Lancer or the Starion. On the other hand, the increase in manufacturing is expected to improve sales this year as industry analysts are expecting a slowdown in orders for 2019.
Amid fears of uncertainty in the global market, the carmaker is expecting to see increased demand for the Xpander and other popular models in Indonesia and other Asian countries to help rake in revenue and grow the company's overall market value.
Late in February, it was reported that Mitsubishi recorded significant sales in other countries, particularly in the Philippines. The Philippine counterpart of MKKI sold 13,502 Xpander units in the country last year, making the model the best-selling Multi-Purpose vehicle in the local market.
According to local outlet The Daily Guardian, the Mitsubishi Xpander also received multiple awards from some of the Philippines' most prestigious award bodies including the Media's Choice Awards and the Auto Focus People's Choice awards.
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MPPC) is expecting to see further demand this year after the company saw a slight increase in its overall market value due to increased sales of the popular Xpander model. MMPC Executive Vice President Taichi Nakajima said the model showed "strong supply and demand" in 2018.
Meanwhile, the world's leading auto alliance, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, announced on Thursday the release of its Alliance Intelligent Cloud. The platform will enable cars manufactured by the three auto giants to improve connected services in almost 200 international markets.
The Alliance Intelligent Cloud has been established as part of the joint efforts between Alliance members and Microsoft to launch the world's first connected vehicle program. The system will make use of IoT technology and artificial intelligence (AI) that Microsoft Azure prepared.
