The budget MPV market in Malaysia may be dominated by Perodua Alza but over in Vietnam, things are a little different.

Like many parts of Southeast Asia, Vietnam is a country dominated by Toyota. The Toyota Vios is Vietnam’s No.1 selling car (23,529 units in 2022) but it’s a position that it barely held on to.

Ever since its launch in mid-2020, the Mitsubishi Xpander has been frequently harassing the Vios for the No.1 spot. In one too many times last year, the Xpander had even overtook the Vios to take the monthly sales crown.

Mitsubishi Motors Vietnam has now revealed that cumulative sales of the Xpander have gone past the 80,000 units milestone.

The Xpander ended 2022 with a 42 percent market share in the B-MPV segment, a space that also sees the Hyundai Stargazer and Toyota Veloz competing for a bigger slice of the pie.

Closer to home, the Xpander does not enjoy such a domineering position, obviously because of the tax-deducted quasi-national car Perodua Alza factor.

For what it’s worth, the Xpander is still the best-selling non-national model in the segment. It’s an increasingly narrow space as even the Honda BR-V has decided that the uneven playing field is not worth the effort to compete in anymore, leaving only the Toyota Veloz, a twin of the Perodua Alza.

Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia sells the 1.5-litre 7-seater Mitsubishi Xpander for RM 99,800. The model is locally assembled (CKD) at the MMC Manufacturing Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. facility located within the DRB-Hicom manufacturing campus in Pekan, Pahang.