Mitsubishi North America President and CEO Fred Diaz
Taking care of customers
The Eclipse Cross is luring in a new group of better educated customers with higher incomes and high credit scores. Mitsubishi is also seeing a similar trend with the Outlander PHEV. Now, the challenge is to adjust dealerships to the change.
“If there was one challenge that I would say we have, it’s to do a better job of taking care of these customers who are more selective, and have higher expectations when they visit a dealership, from a facility standpoint, from a customer satisfaction standpoint, from how they’re treated in the sales process from the A-to-Z.”
“Our dealers are going through a metamorphosis right now, understanding that this is happening now,” Diaz added.
To address the issue, Mitsubishi hired a director of customer satisfaction for the first time just months ago. The director is launching strategies this year that will continue on indefinitely. Dealers are already investing in the way the showrooms look and feel, Diaz says, and these updates will continue over the next several years.
“We’re still here”
Mitsubishi spent more on marketing this year than it has in over 11 years. It’s part of a much-needed push to increase brand awareness.
“First and foremost, that’s the first thing we need to make people aware of is that ‘Hey, we’re still here,’” Diaz said. “We’ve been kind of quiet and small for a while, but we’re back on the rebound.”
On that note, Mitsubishi will serve as the title sponsor for the Las Vegas Bowl over the next two years. This year’s college football postseason game, now known as the Mitsubishi Motors Las Vegas Bowl, will take place December 15. Mitsubishi will parlay this year’s event into a national dealer meeting, where dealers from across the nation will meet and have the opportunity to see future products, and enjoy a football game.
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