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Sorento Is Top SUV Towcar For Second Year

September 28, 2006 By

The Kia Sorento wowed the most demanding users in Britain for the second year in a row when it captured the title of Caravan Club Towcar of the Year in the over-1800kgs segment.

sorento-25-crdi-xe.jpgHaving captured the same title last year – in the face of stiff competition from some of the biggest names in the 4×4 world – Sorento returned to The Caravan Club’s exhaustive and challenging test and again won out for its combination of flexibility, load-lugging ability and comfort and convenience.

Awarding the Sorento 2.5 CRDi XE Manual model the top honour the judges praised the car’s excellent value along with its uncompromising ability to deal with the varied conditions Britain’s most-adventurous campers and caravaners might face.

President of Kia Motors (UK) Ltd, Mr B. K. Jang said: “When Sorento captured this title last year we were delighted – to win it for a second year in a row shows just how good Sorento is. Its traditional strengths of security on and off road, go-anywhere ability and the combination of comfort, flexibility and load-carrying, and pulling capacity, along with its excellent value provides exactly what caravaners want.

“Modern caravanning is not just about low-cost family holidays and many dedicated caravan and mobile home owners want luxury and flexibility from their cars even

when they are not towing. Sorento has already won many awards and considerable praise for its off-road capability and its excellent value, but to win this award for the second year in a row clearly sets Sorento apart in a market often populated by 4x4s that are little more than beefed-up road cars,” he added.

Kia also captured another Caravan Club Towcar of the Year Award with its Rio 1.5 CRDi, this time in the Under £13,000 price category. Praised for its flexibility and modern comforts in a package still capable of easily towing trailers, Rio pipped last year’s winner – the Kia Cerato – to take first place. In fact judges said the two Kias considerably outshone their rivals from other manufacturers in that segment.

Filed Under: Car News, Kia, Sorento

Mitsubishi Motors Europe Sales Results For First 6 Month CY 2006

September 27, 2006 By

Sustained growth – 143,544 sales vs. 137,090 in first half CY2005 (+ 4.7%)

Mitsubishi Motors Europe’s sales results for the first half of CY 2006 show sustained growth, with sales totalling 143,544, an increase of almost 5 % over the same period last year.

A result of product renewal and ever-closer partnership with both owned and independent distributors, MME’s sales results for the first six months of the year put it firmly on track to continue making a strong contribution to MMC’s ahead-of-target business plan.

Product highlights:

The launch of two new products aimed at image-driven segments in the European market set the tone:

  1. New Mitsubishi L200 sport utility truck – 12,110 units have been sold already, even before full availability across all markets (wholesale orders are 10,000 units ahead of target), with a backlog of 2,800 orders and an even more profitable model mix than the previous generation L200
  2. Launched in April, Colt CZC completes the Colt family and provides Mitsubishi with a competitor in the trendy B-segment coupé-cabriolet market. As a first indication of sales potential, all 5,000 units allocated to Germany – its number 1 market – have already been sold to the dealer network

Robust sales of existing cornerstone models:

  1. Colt, MME’s biggest selling model family, increased its foothold in the fiercely-contested B-segment, posting sales of 42,550 (+ 13%)
  2. Lancer, with 37,307 sold (+ 31%) continued to provide MME with much of Russia’s volume but also performed well above expectations in many other markets (43 % above target overall)

In terms of market:

  1. Continued growth in Russia and the Ukraine
  2. Russia, now firmly established as MME’s #1 market (followed by Germany and the UK), saw sales rise by 38 % (34,056 Jan-Jun ‘06 vs. 24,726 Jan-Jun ’05)
  3. Ukraine saw impressive growth, with sales up from 3,090 to 5,472 (+ 77%), making the market MME’s 6th largest and consolidating Mitsubishi’s position as #1 brand in the Ukraine
  4. Excellent performance from diverse European markets, such as
  5. Italy (MME market #4, up 23 %)
  6. Spain (#5, up 5 %)
  7. Turkey (+ 23%), Norway (+ 11%) and Hungary (+ 82%)

Sales in Germany were 16 % lower than in the same period last year; this reduction was caused by the running-out of Space Star, Pajero* Classic and Pajero* Pinin, together with the changeover to new L200

In the UK, sales were down by 11 % compared to January-June 2005, with the causes of this reduction the same as in Germany (new L200 not yet in full supply and production of several models ending). Furthermore, the UK passenger car market overall has seen a drop of over 4% (1st 6 months 2006 vs. 1st 6 months 2005) In the second half of 2006, MME will aim to consolidate its consistent sales performance, not only drawing on its firmly-established product and distributor strengths but also with the most important Pajero* launch later in the year, to be followed by the new Outlander during the first quarter of 2007.

Filed Under: Car News, Mitsubishi
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