The
Mitsubishi Grandis is a seven seat
MPVA minivan, multi-purpose vehicle , people-carrier, people-mover or multi-utility vehicle is a type of automobile similar in shape to a van that is designed for personal use...
built by
Mitsubishi Motorsis the fifth largest automaker in Japan and the fifteenth largest in the world by global unit sales. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.Throughout its history it...
to replace its
Chariot/Space Wagon/NimbusThe Mitsubishi Chariot, is a five door, five/seven seat compact MPV produced by Mitsubishi Motors of Japan from 1983 to 2002. It was based on the SSW concept car first exhibited at the 23rd Tokyo Motor Show in 1979, and named for the battle chariots used during the times of the ancient Greek and...
line. It was launched on May 14 2003 and is sold in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
,
OceaniaOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
. Engines available are a 2.4
litreThe litre or liter is a unit of volume. There are two official symbols: the Latin letter L in lower and upper case . The lower case L is also often written as a cursive ℓ, though this symbol has no official approval by any international bureau...
four cylinder and a
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
-sourced 2.0 litre
turbodieselTurbodiesel refers to any diesel engine with a turbocharger. Turbocharging is the norm rather than the exception in modern car and truck diesel engines...
, badged DI-D rather than TDI as Volkswagen denotes it.
The exterior styling was based loosely on designer
Olivier BoulayOlivier Boulay is an automobile designer. He is currently the head of DaimlerChrysler's Japanese design studio in Yokohama....
's earlier
Mitsubishi Space Liner, a monobox four-seat concept vehicle with centre-opening "
suicide doorA suicide door is a car door that is hinged on the edge closer to the rear of the vehicle, known as the trailing edge...
s", first exhibited at the 35th
Tokyo Motor ShowThe is a biennial auto show held in October-November at the Makuhari Messe, Chiba City, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association , it is a recognized international show by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs...
in 2001.
The
Mitsubishi Grandis is a seven seat
MPVA minivan, multi-purpose vehicle , people-carrier, people-mover or multi-utility vehicle is a type of automobile similar in shape to a van that is designed for personal use...
built by
Mitsubishi Motorsis the fifth largest automaker in Japan and the fifteenth largest in the world by global unit sales. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.Throughout its history it...
to replace its
Chariot/Space Wagon/NimbusThe Mitsubishi Chariot, is a five door, five/seven seat compact MPV produced by Mitsubishi Motors of Japan from 1983 to 2002. It was based on the SSW concept car first exhibited at the 23rd Tokyo Motor Show in 1979, and named for the battle chariots used during the times of the ancient Greek and...
line. It was launched on May 14 2003 and is sold in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
,
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
,
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
,
OceaniaOceania is a geographical, often geopolitical, region consisting of numerous lands—mostly islands in the Pacific Ocean and vicinity. The term "Oceania" was coined in 1831 by French explorer Dumont d'Urville...
,
MexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
. Engines available are a 2.4
litreThe litre or liter is a unit of volume. There are two official symbols: the Latin letter L in lower and upper case . The lower case L is also often written as a cursive ℓ, though this symbol has no official approval by any international bureau...
four cylinder and a
VolkswagenThe Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft , also known as Volkswagen Group or as VW, is an automobile manufacturer and mobility organisation based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany and is the pioneer brand within the Volkswagen Group, which contains the car brands Audi AG, Bentley Motors Ltd.,...
-sourced 2.0 litre
turbodieselTurbodiesel refers to any diesel engine with a turbocharger. Turbocharging is the norm rather than the exception in modern car and truck diesel engines...
, badged DI-D rather than TDI as Volkswagen denotes it.
The exterior styling was based loosely on designer
Olivier BoulayOlivier Boulay is an automobile designer. He is currently the head of DaimlerChrysler's Japanese design studio in Yokohama....
's earlier
Mitsubishi Space Liner, a monobox four-seat concept vehicle with centre-opening "
suicide doorA suicide door is a car door that is hinged on the edge closer to the rear of the vehicle, known as the trailing edge...
s", first exhibited at the 35th
Tokyo Motor ShowThe is a biennial auto show held in October-November at the Makuhari Messe, Chiba City, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association , it is a recognized international show by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs...
in 2001. It was the first all new vehicle featuring the company's new common "face", comprising a curved lower
grilleA grille or grill is an opening of several slits side by side in a wall or metal sheet or other barrier, usually to let air or water enter and/or leave but keep larger objects including people and animals in or out.-In powered vehicles:In automotive engineering, a grille covers an opening in the...
edge and a sharp crease rising up the leading edge of the
bonnetThe hood or bonnet is the hinged cover over the engine of motor vehicles that allows access to the engine compartment for maintenance and repair. In British terminology, hood refers to a fabric cover over the passenger compartment of the car...
from the prominent corporate badge.
The Grandis was also the basis for the
Mitsubishi FCV (Fuel Cell Vehicle) concept, powered by a
fuel cellA fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that produces electricity from a replenishable fuel tank. The electricity is generated through the reaction, triggered in the presence of an electrolyte, between the fuel and an oxidant . The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of...
technology developed by then controlling shareholder
DaimlerChryslerDaimler AG is a German car corporation and the world's thirteenth largest car manufacturer as well as the largest truck manufacturer in the world...
. DCX's "FC System" uses a fuel cell stack to replenish an array of
NiMHNIMH or NiMH may refer to:*Nickel metal hydride battery, a type of rechargeable battery*National Institute of Mental Health, a part of the United States National Institutes of Health...
batteries from 117 litres of
compressed hydrogenCompressed hydrogen is the gaseous state of the element hydrogen which is kept under pressure. Compressed hydrogen in hydrogen tanks at 350 bar and 700 bar is used for mobile hydrogen storage in hydrogen vehicles...
storage.
It won the "Best MPV" award at the 26th
BangkokBangkok is the capital, largest urban area and primary city of Thailand. Known in Thai as Krung Thep Mahanakhon , or กรุงเทพฯ Krung Thep for short, it was a small trading post at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River during the Ayutthaya Kingdom. It came to the forefront of Siam when it was given the...
International Motor Show in 2005.
Annual production and sales
| Year |
Production |
Sales |
| Japan |
Overseas |
| 2003 |
28,821 |
23,834 |
3,574 |
| 2004 |
19,173 |
5,247 |
14,352 |
| 2005 |
29,466 |
4,490 |
24,507 |
| 2006 |
17,928 |
1,756 |
16,870 |
| 2007 |
15,549 |
674 |
15,161 |
External links