Moses Akaigwe
With a string of international awards in about one year, Mitsubishi Motors’ Eclipse Cross is proving to be a vehicle to be watched by its peers in the competitive compact SUV bracket.
At the last count, the Eclipse Cross has earned no fewer than nine prestigious international recognitions, thereby living up to the manufacturers’ goal of successfully positioning it as a strategic offering among older crossover SUV siblings, including the ASX and the Outlander.
Sold in over 100 countries, the impressive collection of honours from all around the world is a tribute to its technical endowment, design, and safety features.
In Nigeria, the vehicle was launched last year by the sole distributor of Mitsubishi Motors in Nigeria, Massilia Motors. The company is a joint venture of the CFAO group and the Chanrai group which joined ‘forces’ to deliver customer satisfaction to Mitsubishi users in the country with operations run by CFAO.
The Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross was acclaimed during the national Car of the Year in Russia 2019 awards ceremony where it was named the best “Compact SUV” in one of the most highly competitive categories.” Car of the Year in Russia awards are decided by public vote, and are the products of the largest survey of its kind in the world, with more than a million people voting for their favorites. The votes are independently verified by research company IpsosComcon.
It is not only members of the Russian public who are impressed with the Eclipse Cross crossover SUV. In East Asia, it was also selected as the “RJC Car of the Year 2019” run by the Automotive Researchers’ & Journalists’ Conference of Japan (RJC).
In 2018, the car earned the highest safety rating according to the independent European organisation Euro NCAP, and was also awarded the Outstanding SUV design of the year by the Nigeria Automotive Journalists Association (NAJA).
Massilia Motors General Manager (Sales), Mr. Tunji Itiola, gave an insight into why the Eclipse Cross described in a recent review as “a decent compact SUV” has been garlanded in many markets in one year: “The SUV is equipped for the Nigerian market with a 2.0 litre Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) petrol engine that allows seamless gear interchange, giving the smoothest driving experience within its category. Not only is the Eclipse Cross a stylish fusion of a sharp coupe and a compact SUV, it has high rough road performance and well-balanced dynamics, due to Mitsubishi’s unique Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) four-wheel-drive system.’’
The Eclipse Cross is an upscale model with exciting features, which include the Adaptive Cruise Control that maintains a selected distance between the vehicle and the car ahead using radar. It reduces driving stress, especially during traffic jams on highways and assures better safety.
Another award-winning safety feature of the Eclipse Cross is the Lane Departure Warning Intelligent sensors placed all around the vehicle monitors the vehicle’s surroundings and provides active warnings to alert the driver of possible danger. A good example is when the vehicle drifting from its lane while the turn signals are not operating.
To top it all, the most unique innovation of this beauty is the Head-Up Display (HUD), which conveys information above the dashboard for easy viewing.
With competitive edge in SUVs, pickup trucks, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is a global automobile company, which launched the i-MiEV – the first mass-produced electric vehicle in 2009. This was followed by the Outlander PHEV in 2013 – a plug-in hybrid market leader in Japan and Europe.
Models, such as the Pajero Sport/Montero Sport, Triton/L200, Outlander and Xpander, are some of the offerings that make the brand tic
