Mitsubishi is getting back into the world of the van.
It has been a few years since Mitsubishi Motors retired the L300 van, which for many tradies and contracting type companies, was the van of choice for its low cost, reliability and low maintenance requirements and reasonable ability to hold its price at resale.
When the L300 retired, Mitsubishi had nothing to easily fill the gap and the commercial offering from the Tiple Diamond brand was reduced to the extremely popular Triton utility, which has improved in leaps and bounds, but its still not a van.
As is the modern automotive way, Mitsubishi has aligned itself with numerous other manufacturers and has finally come to a mutual understanding with Renault, whose vans have been among the most popular in Europe. This understanding has opened the doors to the commercial vehicle market for Mitsubishi once again.
Mitsubishi has dubbed its van the Mitsubishi Express van and has elected to bring in two models, one with a 1.6-litre, twin turbocharged engine compliant with EU Stage 5 emission regulations and one with a two-litre, single turbocharged powerplant compliant with Euro 6T regulations.
The 103kW/340Nm 1.6 is available with a six-speed manual transmission only, while the 125kW/380Nm two-litre offers a six-speed, dual clutch automatic.
Fuel consumption figures are 6.2 litres and 7.3 litres per 100km respectively, with these figures achieved in part by the auto start/stop engine function.
Mitsubishi is very excited to be re-entering the commercial van space with the highly specified Express which, Reece Congdon, MMNZ Head of Marketing and Corporate Affairs, says is a very different proposition from the L300.
“It is,” he says of the van, “a worthy successor to the popular L300 model, which sold 38,806 units from 1980 to 2015. We strongly believe that operators looking for function and flexibility, at exceptional value, will welcome the opportunity to get the Express van working for their bottom line.”
The 5.2m3 cargo space is described as intuitive and the payload capacity of up to 1150kg is impressive, making the Express a compelling new option for light commercial vehicle operators and – according to Mitsubishi – a strong return to this sector of the market.
“Backed by our 50-strong dealer network and factory-trained technicians, we expect interest in this vehicle to be high,” says Mr Congdon.
The Express 1.6L model with six-speed manual transmission is priced at $47,990 while the Express 2.0L with six-speed dual clutch automatic transmission is priced at $52,990.
