M'bishi Motors to launch flex-fuel Pajero in Brazil
In this file photo Mitsubishi's fully redesigned Pajero is displayed at the company's showroom in Tokyo October 4, 2006. Mitsubishi said on Thursday it will begin selling a flexible-fuel version of the Pajero in Brazil next month as it aims to grab a bigger share of the ethanol-friendly market.
Credit: Reuters/Yuriko Nakao
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said on Thursday it will begin selling a flexible-fuel version of the Pajero sport utility vehicle in Brazil next month as it aims to grab a bigger share of the ethanol-friendly market.
The Tokyo-based carmaker has also said it would launch a flex-fuel vehicle, which can run on any mixture of ethanol and gasoline, in the United States during the fiscal year starting in April 2009.
Flex-fuel vehicles make up more than four-fifths of the fast-growing Brazilian auto market due to an abundance of sugarcane as a source of the biofuel. They are also gaining popularity in the United States, where corn is the main source of the carbon-neutral fuel.
Among its Japanese rivals, Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. also have flex-fuel vehicles on offer in Brazil.
Brazil's total vehicle market grew 12.4 percent last year to nearly 1.93 million units, a few thousand units short of the record set in 1997.
