Mitsubishi Freeca: the Asian family wagon with three names

The Mitsubishi Freeca is a station wagon and pickup truck produced between 1997 and 2017 for the Asian market. It was built in Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam, and sold as the Mitsubishi Adventure in the Philippines, the Mitsubishi Kuda in Indonesia and the Mitsubishi Jolie in Vietnam.

Mitsubishi Freeca at a glance

Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on the Mitsubishi Freeca.

History of the Mitsubishi Freeca

One car for South-East Asia

The Freeca was first released on 11 September 1997, with the Adventure following in January 1998 and the Kuda in March 1999. The name was coined from free and ca, the Taiwanese word for vehicle. The car was internally called the Dynamic Family Wagon, had a semi-bonnet design, a rear-wheel-drive layout and a body-on-frame chassis, and its development and parts production were shared between Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Indonesia

The Kuda went on sale in March 1999 with three variants, GLX, GLS and Super Exceed, powered by a 1.6-litre 4G18 petrol engine. Diesel models arrived in June 1999 in GLS and GLX form, with a diesel Super Exceed following in 2000. A facelift in early 2002 added the 2.0-litre 4G63A engine and renamed the variants Deluxe, Diamond and Grandia, and there was another facelift in 2004. The Kuda, whose name means horse in Indonesian and Malay, was built locally by PT Krama Yudha Kesuma Motor and marketed by Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian until production ended in May 2005 with the closure of the plant.

Philippines and Taiwan

The Philippine Adventure was heavily redesigned in 2001 and 2004 and facelifted again in late 2009, with trims including GLX, GLX SE, GLS Sport, Super Sport and Grand Sport. The 50,000th Adventure was built in the Philippine plant in March 2005. The original pre-facelift car continued as the Adventure GX in 2006, a stripped-down version for commercial and fleet use, and a taxi version called the Adventure TX was also made. Production ended in 2017, although a few cars were still sold in 2018.

In Taiwan the car was sold as the Freeca in pickup and station wagon forms, with the wagon pitched as a recreational vehicle; anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution and VHS or 5.1 surround DVD systems were offered. The only engine was the 2.0-litre 4G63 with a carburettor or multi-point injection, later made injection-only. In China the Freeca was rebadged by Soueast from 2001 to 2017, and in Vietnam it was the Jolie. Badge-engineered Taiwanese cars also appeared briefly in South Africa as the Africar Landio and Africar Jockey, assembled in Cape Town.

Design and features

• Three names: Freeca, Adventure, Kuda and Jolie for the same car.
• Body-on-frame: a semi-bonnet, rear-wheel-drive utility layout.
• Asian production: built in five countries from shared parts.
• Long life: twenty years on sale, to 2017.
• Fleet and taxi versions: the Adventure GX and TX in the Philippines.

Mitsubishi Freeca versions

• Freeca (Taiwan): wagon and pickup with the 2.0-litre 4G63.
• Adventure (Philippines): several facelifts and trim levels, 1998–2017.
• Kuda (Indonesia): 1.6 petrol, then 2.0 and diesels, 1999–2005.
• Jolie (Vietnam): the Vietnamese Freeca.
• Soueast Freeca (China): rebadged version, 2001–2017.
• Africar Landio and Jockey: South African assembly in Cape Town.

The Freeca was the Asian relative of the Chariot in spirit, and its Taiwanese stablemates include the Veryca and Zinger. More cars are in the Mitsubishi collection.

Sources

• Mitsubishi Freeca, English Wikipedia: markets, engines, facelifts, other names