Monday, January 5, 2026 is the first official day for Neu Mitsubishi Motors Australia Limited (MMAL) CEO Shunichi Kihara, who wants to turn around the local automaker’s fortunes in the face of declining sales and stronger competitors.
While the unveiling of a new Pajero – a marque that has been on hold since 2021 – appears imminent, it may not arrive in the first 12 months of the new CEO’s tenure as the battle for new car sales only intensifies.
Mitsubishi’s hard-won role as a value-for-money brand that offers a lot of car for the money – even when there were better, if more expensive, competitors – has been usurped by the influx of predominantly Chinese brands.
The resignation of previous CEO Shaun Westcott at the end of September 2025 was unexpected, even though the brand had to expect a significant decline in sales.
With Daily Sparkz you can save thousands on a new car. Click Here to get a great deal.
Official full-year new car sales figures will not be released by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) until January 6, 2026, but in the first eleven months of 2025, Mitsubishi slipped in the sales race.
The automaker posted a 17.5 percent year-on-year decline to the end of November 2025, one of the largest declines by a Japanese brand in Australia.
Only its alliance partners Nissan (minus 18.7 percent) and Suzuki (minus 27.4 percent) – which had to accept delivery interruptions for their best-selling Jimny SUV – performed worse.
Admittedly, the overall market wasn’t booming, with sales across all brands down 1.8 percent, according to FCAI and Electric Vehicle Council data.
That meant Chinese brands GWM and BYD overtook Mitsubishi, which fell to ninth after a fifth place finish in 2024, behind a dominant Toyota, then Ford, Mazda and Kia.
In 2018 – Mitsubishi’s best sales year with 84,944 vehicles sold – the brand ranked fourth behind Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai, but ahead of Ford.
Many newer Chinese brands enjoyed significant growth in 2025, and while this is admirable, much of this was due to expanding offerings and dealer networks – and in some cases cutting prices – as they attempted to gain a foothold in Australia.
But unlike some newer brands, GWM and BYD in Australia don’t look like short-term prospects, but appear to be real, long-term competition for Mitsubishi – and every other brand.
In its 2025 cabinet, Mitsubishi Australia only offered five nameplates, up from eight in 2022.
The Outlander midsize SUV was its best-selling model, but it slumped to 20,523 sales, a 19.9 percent decline compared to 25,622 sold on November 30, 2024.
Despite being the most valuable player, the Outlander now literally has to deal with a whole new set of competitors from China – some strong, some not so strong.
Mitsubishi gave the petrol-powered version a facelift in 2025, and a revised plug-in hybrid range is due to appear in the first quarter of this year.
The BYD Sealion 6 overtook the Outlander PHEV as Australia’s best-selling plug-in hybrid in 2024 and sales figures are expected to show it outsold the Mitsubishi again in 2025, with the BYD Shark 6 PHEV ute overtaking both to take the top PHEV spot.
The Outlander PHEV has proven to be a fighter for the brand, helped by the increasing popularity of hybrid models, and will get a larger battery as part of its upcoming facelift.
The only Mitsubishi to post gains in the first 11 months of 2025 was the Triton, and although its 4×2 numbers fell 23.6 percent, its combined 4×2 and 4×4 sales rose 5.2 percent.
That’s a positive performance considering the three best-sellers – Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux and Isuzu D-Max – saw declines of 12.0 percent, 3.0 percent and 11.1 percent, respectively.
The newcomer BYD Shark 6 PHEV pushed Triton to fifth place behind this trio in total sales by the end of November.
In 2026, the Triton will also receive an update shortly after its Nissan Navara twin lands in showrooms, but the automaker won’t have a hybrid Triton yet, despite all the announcements Daily Sparkz Such a model was quickly presented at the Japan Mobility Show 2025.
One of the company’s engineers explained Daily Sparkz It had been testing the Shark 6 during development for the upcoming hybrid Triton, for which there is no official launch date yet.
Alliance partner Nissan has revealed the Frontier Pro, a dual-cab PHEV ute due to arrive in Australian showrooms in 2027.
It’s unclear whether Mitsubishi might sell a version of this vehicle, which Nissan developed with its Chinese joint venture partner Dongfeng.
In 2026 – when Mitsubishi celebrates its 45th anniversary in Australia – the company doesn’t have a single battery electric vehicle (EV) in its lineup locally, something even Toyota, criticized for being late to the party, achieved with the bZ4X SUV in early 2024.
The brand has not offered an electric vehicle outside Japan since the i-MiEV hatchback, which was sold in Australia between 2010 and 2012 and predated the Tesla Model S and Nissan Leaf electric vehicles here.
The slowdown in electric vehicle sales growth in Australia makes this seem like a deliberate move rather than a misstep, as the brand has been able to better capitalize on growth in hybrid sales – again with the Outlander keeping the wheels turning.
But that’s being remedied with a new electric vehicle – a small SUV from Foxtron, an electric vehicle subsidiary of Foxconn that makes devices like iPhones – that’s expected to compete with the BYD Atto 3 and the Kia EV3 in the second half of the year.
According to the company, the trigger for the introduction of the Mitsubishi EV was the introduction of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) in 2025 – something that former CEO Shaun Westcott was critical of.
The new ASX was launched in Australia in mid-2025 as a facelifted version of the Renault Captur, replacing the first generation ASX, which was still selling well despite being on display for 15 years. The new generation has a significantly higher base price than its predecessor.
While the ASX was replaced, the larger Eclipse Cross, which was between the ASX and Outlander in size and price, was removed from the local range in 2025 due to new safety regulations.
An electric Eclipse Cross successor, using the Renault Scenic E-Tech as a base, has been confirmed for Europe and could lead to two electric vehicles in Australian showrooms in 2026. However, a local launch has yet to be announced.
Mitsubishi Australia stopped importing the Pajero Sport in 2025 due to the same regulations that forced the exit of the Eclipse Cross, but has confirmed it plans to return to the large SUV segment.
Globally, the brand has unveiled a new generation model that could simply be called Pajero.
Mitsubishi has a huge dealer network across Australia – with more than 200 locations – and has extended its 10-year new vehicle warranty to include up to 10 years of roadside assistance at the end of 2025.
It won’t be easy, but Mr Kihara doesn’t inherit a Mitsubishi brand without a few aces up his sleeve, including clever marketing campaigns and initiatives.
Ultimately, Australian new car buyers will decide whether there is substance behind this twist, because ultimately the sales figures don’t lie.
MORE: Explore the Mitsubishi showroom
