Tokyo, March 21, 2018 – Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has today announced a fleet of MMC's EV and PHEV vehicles has been delivered from Japanese Government to the Costa Rican Government.
The delivery will involve the transfer of 20 units of the Outlander PHEV, the world's best-selling plug-in hybrid SUV together with an additional 29 units of the i-MiEV, the first mass produced EV vehicle.
The initiative forms part of the Overseas Development Agreement between the Japanese and Costa Rican Governments, through which Japan has committed to provide a range of next generation vehicles to the Central American nation.
The vehicles being delivered as part of this initiative will directly support the Costa Rican Government's ongoing efforts to promote greater environmental sustainability and achieve its own goals to lower carbon emissions.
Promoting the usage of clean energy and delivering a carbon neutral society, have been long standing objectives for Costa Rican policy makers, reflecting Costa Rica's traditional cultural commitment to "Pura Vida" or "pure life".
In 2015, Costa Rica announced that it would seek to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25% from 2012 to 2030, and today is one of only 5 countries whose national climate commitments are rated 'sufficient' by the international Climate Action Tracker (CAT).
Costa Rica has continued with its efforts to become one of the world's greenest nations, revealing in November 2017 that it had broken the world record for the most consecutive days running on renewable energy.
The Costa Rican Government has also announced that it is considering the introduction of 100,000 new electric vehicles and the Costa Rican Legislative Assembly recently debated the introduction of new legislation to massively expand the nation's EV infrastructure.
Today's vehicle delivery is expected, not only to make a direct contribution to the development of Costa Rica's low-carbon economy, but also to help raise awareness of next generation vehicles, driving demand and promoting the adoption of advanced Japanese environmental technologies.
The vehicles being delivered today will be utilized by 15 different government agencies and universities, supporting the Costa Rican Government's efforts to promote eco-friendly mobility.
The delivery was announced in a ceremony at the Presidential House in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose. This event was attended by Costa Rica's President Luis Guillermo Solis and other government officials, the Japanese Ambassador to Costa Rica, Yoshiaki Ito, representatives of Veinsa, MMC's distributor in Costa Rica and trading company Itochu.
Commenting on the supply of the cutting-edge EV and PHEV vehicles Osamu Masuko, CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, said:
"We are very pleased to be able to support the Costa Rican government's efforts to embrace cleaner automotive technologies. We hope these vehicles will contribute to support Costa Rica's transition to a low carbon, sustainable economy."
About Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC)
Mitsubishi Motors is a global automobile company based in Tokyo, Japan, which has a competitive edge in SUVs and pickup trucks, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, as well as the ASEAN region. The company launched i-MiEV – the first mass-produced electric vehicle – in 2009, which was followed with Outlander PHEV in 2013 – the plug-in hybrid market leader in Japan and Europe. Mitsubishi Motors has 30,000 employees and a global footprint with production facilities in Japan, Thailand, China, Indonesia, The Philippines and Russia. Models such as the Pajero Sport/Montero Sport, Triton/L200 and Outlander play a major role in achieving its growth. Global sales volume in fiscal year 2016 was 926,000 units, and Mitsubishi's net sales for fiscal year 2016 were 1.9 trillion yen.
About Mitsubishi Motors in Costa Rica
Veinsa Motors is Mitsubishi Motors' distributor in Costa Rica; and has been in charge of brand positioning and sales successfully for more than 40 years.
Mitsubishi Motors is very proud to be represented by a well-known company with a large trajectory in the automotive industry, whose environmental efforts in order to contribute with the country's sustainability and carbon neutral goal through ecological and responsibility policies, has been recognized with several awards among which we can mention:
· PBAE 2015 Climate Change Category by the Ecological Blue Flag Program Commission
· Recognition in Cleanest Production by the Environmental Acknowledgement System (SIREA)
· Accomplishing the Carbon Neutral Program by the Ministry of Environment and Energy through the Climate Change Management
