Its raining SUV’s in India and if Mitsubishi plans are something to go by, be prepared for a price war in the small SUV segment. A major player in the luxury sedan market in the late 1990’s with its Lancer, which at one point even conquered the otherwise untouchable Honda City in the Indian market, Mitsubishi has been on a slide ever since. Slow to repsond to market changes, poor service and cost of spares has cost the company dear. And while Honda is ready to launch its 3rd generation City in India, Mitsubishi is still selling the age-old Lancer! Even the recently launched Cedia, a very competent car in its own right is not selling even though its the cheapest in its segment and comes with a 2.0 litre engine.

In a bid to revive the Mitsubishi brand in India, the japanese company plans to launch  Outlander, the compact SUV at around 15.5 to 16 lakh rupees. Outlander will be one of the cheapest compact SUV in its class in India. It will be pitted against the segment leader and the costliest Honda CRV, the recently launched Chevvy Captiva and Maruti’s Grand Vitara, Hyundai’s Tuscon and Ford’s endeavour all of which come in the 15-18 lakh bracket.

The SUV market in India is growing at a fair pace with healthy demand for 15-20 lakh rupee luxury compact SUV’s.

To meet the price Mitsubishi isnt exactly offering the spartan version in the Indian market. The Outlander will come with superior features like 2.4 Litre MIVEC petrol engine and a 6-speed Automatic transmission with paddle shift aka Honda Civic. The car will also feature electronically controlled 4WD which is based on a all wheel drive (AWD) philosophy. The only other car that comes close to the Outlander in pricing are the Endeavour and the Grand Vitara but the Outlander will have them stumped in features as well as performance.

The automatic transmission in Vitara is a 4-speed automatic only while the Ford’s comes in diesel guise only. Outlander’s ultra aggressive pricing will come as a result of the fact that it will be assembled in India at the company’s chennai plant, unlike the Honda CRV which is completely imported.

 The company received positive reponse from the customers when it showed the car at the Delhi Auto Expo 2008, the reason for the launch. The exat pricing details are still not clear but the car will be launched in August with an aggressive price tag, common throughout the country.

HM Mitsubishi have the largest SUV portfolio in the country with Pajero and Montero and plans to revamp the dealer network from present 43 to 50 in due course of time.