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The Isuzu mu-X is the dark horse of the SUV Wars

Autodeal on Apr 28, 2016

The Isuzu mu-X is the dark horse of the SUV Wars

The recent launch of the all-new Mitsubishi Montero Sport and the Toyota Fortuner and the success of the Ford Everest sparked a heated debate on our social media channels. People have dubbed it the “SUV Wars.” So we dug up the stats for Q1 2016 to find out which midsize SUV reigned supreme.

We checked the number of organic pageviews and number of inquiries to gauge the each vehicle’s success. The candidates to battle it out are the Chevrolet Trailblazer, Ford Everest, Isuzu mu-X, the all-new Mitsubishi Montero-Sport, and all-new Toyota Fortuner.

According to our data, the most visited and most inquired about midsize SUV on the AutoDeal Car Guide is the mu-X. This is very impressive given that the mu-X was launched last September 2014.

Besides the Chevrolet Trailblazer with its class leading 500 Nm of torque, the mu-X also outshined 3 recently launched all-new SUVs - Toyota Fortuner which placed 2nd, the Ford Everest in 3rd, and the Montero Sport in last.

The mu-X also boasts a 40.5% share in the inquiries among the mentioned SUVs. This is 100% more than its closest rival and its brother from another mother – the Trailblazer – which is in fact more powerful than it’s Japanese counterpart. Let's not forget the all-new SUVs that make up the remaining 39.4% of the pie which we can safely say are more advanced than the mu-X in one way or the other.

This leaves us with a burning question, why do people prefer the mu-X over the other midsize SUVs?

For a more factual reason for its success, we compared the mu-X side-by-side with the Montero Sport and Fortuner. This shows a huge price difference in the favor of the mu-X, the comparo also shows that it also offers a bigger exterior, more spacious cabin, and the same creature comforts such as the dual automatic climate control and 7-inch Touchscreen display while offering standard safety features. The only drawback is that the mu-X is behind in power and torque by at least 11 hp and 50 Nm of torque even with the new 3.0L VGS turbo engine.

On the other hand, the American brands offers a more affordable price tag to go along with a boat load of safety features. Unfortunately for them, people are still not yet familiar with what they can offer. It’s safe to say that the opposite can be said if we were in America where Chevrolet and Ford are more popular and trusted than the Asian brands.

These 2 brands have worked hard and done a lot to change train of thought by building manufacturing plants in Thailand and Indonesia which has resulted in higher demand for the brands. This has been evident with Ford Philippines' February 2016 sales report which featured a 52% increase year-over-year.

To sum things up, the Isuzu mu-X remains to be a dominant force in the midsize SUV segment because it’s affordable, practical, and most importantly it’s brand. We predict that this would be the case until the Fortuner or the Montero Sport lower their price tags or if Chevrolet and Ford can become a household name in the future.

To learn more about the industry insights, visit the AutoDeal Q1 report.