Mitsubishi has announced plans for a new factory in Indonesia, along with several models to be produced in the southeast Asian nation.
According to PaulTan.org, the plant will break ground later this year just outside the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, and is slated to begin production in April 2017. The 160,000-unit per year factory will churn out several different types of vehicles, including two commercial trucks in addition to the Indonesian-market Colt L300 cab-over-engine truck and van.
The report goes on to state that the plant will also build a new 8-seater MPV (minivan) and an all-new Pajero Sport. While the minivan will likely be an entry-level competitor to the Asian-market Honda Mobilio and Toyota Avanza, the Pajero Sport is a successor to one of the more well-received Mitsubishi Motors products of the last decade, the Montero Sport.
While the Montero Sport was canceled for the US market in 2004, the rest of the world got a new generation in 2008, based on the Triton pickup. With a new Triton unveiled last year, the Pajero Sport will likely follow in styling and be built on the same platform. The Triton will also see a rebadged Fiat version, giving the Italian automaker its first body-on-frame truck. There’s no word whether Fiat will see a version of the Pajero Sport, and the possibility of either coming to the US seems remote as a result of the Chicken Tax.
Leave a Reply