New Shogun faces uphill task as SUV sales fall

Registration figures provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders this week show the 4x4 and SUV sector of the UK’s new car market are continuing to decline.

Last year sales fell by 12 per cent to 164,641 vehicles and much of this was put down to the fact that important models such as the Honda CR-V, Land Rover Freelander and Mitsubishi Shogun ranges were on run out before new models arrived.

However for the first four months of this year, with all the new models in place, there has been a further fall of nearly 7 per cent at a time when new vehicle sales in the UK have actually increased by 3.15 per cent overall.

The industry view is that some customers are moving from SUVs and 4x4s to MPVs, or people carriers, as they are known and for the first four months of this year their sales growth is a little over 10 per cent.

So why are people changing? The MPV has high visibility and ownership status, most have flexible five or seven seat and load carrying flexibility and drivers like the higher ’command’ driving position.

High running costs, increased gas guzzling taxation and pressure about moral and social obligations from the anti 4x4 lobby seem to have dulled the consumer’s appetite for buying some types of 4x4s.

This is not good news for brands such as Jeep, Dodge, Nissan and Mitsubishi, to name but a few, whose ranges are dominated by 4x4 vehicles.

Another issue is the fact that the anti 4x4 feeling will harm the sale of used off-roaders and SUVs and that in turn lowers residual trade-in values.

Whilst people spending between £20,000 and £35,000 on a new 4x4 can easily cope with the added running costs and road fund licence charges, will potential customers buying a cheaper secondhand vehicle be put off by all the negative vibes and high road charges these vehicles are being subjected to?

Mitsubishi Shogun

Mitsubishi launched the fourth generation of their Shogun three and five door, five and seven seat models and commercial vehicle variants in February this year and in the UK they expect to maintain their sales levels at around 6,000 units for the first full year of sales.

Mitsubishi feel that Shogun owners, in the main, buy a heavyweight 4x4 because they need one. They are in general country dwellers or commercial business operators who need a 4x4 for towing.

There is also increasing demand for the Shogun by Police forces and the Highways Agency who require the load carrying space, high visibility and reliability these vehicles are renowned for.

The Shogun first came to the UK in 1983 in three-door form, the first country outside Japan to get it. This was followed in 1985 by the first five door models and it was the first 4x4 to have seven forward facing passenger seats as standard.

In Japan it was and still is known as Pajero and the same name is used in most countries of the world, only Spanish speaking countries adopted the alternative name of Montero. Why? Because ‘Pajero’ in Spanish can be interpreted as a very rude word.

The UK chose to use the word Shogun as the book and the television series about the Japanese Shogun Warriors were published and broadcast at that time so it was apt and it turned out to be a marketing masterstroke.

Around 2.5 million Shoguns/Pajeros/Monteros have been sold since 1982/1983 with 736,973 sold in Europe and 92,954 in the UK. The European customer loyalty rate is 70 per cent.

Customers come back time and time again attracted by the rugged reliability, the real off-road performance coupled with on-road driving refinement and the fact that it can be used either in two or four wheel drive with high and low ratio gearing.

New Shogun

The latest Shogun passenger carrying three and five door models for the UK are priced from £22,949 to £34,999 and all have a revised 3.2-litre, four-cylinder direct injection, common-rail turbodiesel engine.

The 3.5-litre, V6 petrol engine has been dropped from the line-up for this generation as over 90 per cent of sales in this sector are accounted for by diesel powered models.

There are four levels of specification for three and five door variants, Equippe, Warrior, Elegance and a new flagship Diamond specification. Elegance and Diamond models will take 65 per cent of UK sales and five door, seven seat versions with account for two thirds of overall sales.

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