Mitsubishi Motors North America reported March 2017 sales of 11,766, marking an increase of 6.2% compared to March 2016 as well as the close of the company’s fiscal year. For the first time since 2007, MMNA enjoyed fiscal year sales of more than 100,000 vehicles and the fourth consecutive fiscal year of sales growth.
The Japanese automaker took a blow last year as a result of the diesel fuel economy scandal that had also surrounded Volkswagen, but like the German automaker seems to be well on its way to a rebound, in part thanks to the new alliance with Nissan and in part because the affected vehicles were not sold in the United States.
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Point-in-fact, the Mitsubishi Outlander put the brand’s whole lineup on its back to achieve its best March sales month ever with 4,235 vehicles sold, a 96.4% increase compared to the same period last year. Furthermore, over the last four years, MMNA’s volume growth increased 75% while sales per dealer/per month nearly doubled. So far in 2017, calendar-year sales are also up 15.6% compared to 2016 with 29,147 units sold, which means Don Swearingen’s may well reach his stated expectation.
“Eclipsing 100,000 fiscal-year sales is a very important milestone for Mitsubishi and truly signals growth with our brand and the strengthening of our dealer body,” said Don Swearingen, executive vice president and COO, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. “And the future looks even brighter. Mitsubishi’s solid CUV lineup of Outlander and Outlander Sport gets even stronger with the recently announced Eclipse Cross slated to hit dealerships in early 2018.”
Related: 2017 Mitsubishi Outlander model spotlight
| March | YTD | |||
| 2017 | 2016 | 2017 | 2016 | |
| i‐MiEV | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Mirage | 3324 | 4113 | 7470 | 6232 |
| Lancer | 1528 | 1934 | 5221 | 5454 |
| Outlander Sport | 2676 | 2874 | 6864 | 7698 |
| Outlander | 4235 | 2156 | 9588 | 5820 |
| Total | 11766 | 11078 | 29147 | 25212 |
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