Soueast Freeca: the Chinese version of the Mitsubishi people carrier

The Soueast Freeca is the Chinese version of the Mitsubishi Freeca, a family of station wagons and pickups designed for Asian markets and built from 1997 to 2017. Soueast rebadged the car for China between 2001 and 2017; it kept the semi-bonnet nose, the rear-wheel-drive chassis and the body-on-frame construction of the original.

Soueast Freeca at a glance

The Soueast Freeca is covered in the China section of the English Wikipedia article on the Mitsubishi Freeca; the article uses that source alone.

History of the Soueast Freeca

A Taiwanese idea for Asian markets

The Mitsubishi Freeca was released on 11 September 1997 and was designed specifically for Asia, with production in Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Under the skin it was a conventional commercial-vehicle solution: a semi-bonnet body with the engine ahead of the driver, rear-wheel drive and a separate body on a ladder frame. Mitsubishi called the project the Dynamic Family Wagon, and development and parts production were shared between Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia.

The name was coined from “free” and “ca”, the Taiwanese word for vehicle. In each market the car took a local name: Adventure in the Philippines, Kuda in Indonesia and Jolie in Vietnam. In Taiwan it was sold as the Mitsubishi Freeca in both station wagon and pickup form; the wagon was presented as a recreational vehicle rather than a plain commercial car.

Equipment and engines

The Taiwanese wagon came with a single engine choice, the 2.0-litre 4G63, at first with a carburettor or multi-point fuel injection and later with fuel injection as standard throughout the range. Equipment included anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution and infotainment systems with VHS or 5.1 surround DVD, although the facelifted eight-seat Exceed trim, which replaced the seven-seat Super Exceed, did without the infotainment. The pickup version shared the same chassis and front end and was aimed at commercial users.

Elsewhere in the region the same car was developed further. In Indonesia the Kuda was offered from March 1999 with a 1.6-litre petrol engine and gained a 2.0-litre unit with a facelift in early 2002; in the Philippines the Adventure was redesigned in 2001 and 2004 and facelifted again in late 2009, and a basic GX version stayed in production alongside the newer models for fleet use.

China and beyond

From 2001 to 2017 the Freeca was rebadged by Soueast for China, which makes the Chinese car one of the longest-lived versions of the family. Brief badge-engineered copies also reached South Africa, where Taiwanese-built cars were assembled in Cape Town and sold as the Africar Landio and Africar Jockey. Production of the family ended in 2017, although a few remaining cars were still sold by dealers into 2018.

Design and features

• Body-on-frame chassis: a separate body on a ladder frame, built for rough roads and heavy loads.
• Semi-bonnet layout: the engine sits ahead of the driver, unlike the cab-over vans it competed with.
• Rear-wheel drive: simple and durable, and well suited to loaded work.
• Two body styles: a station wagon for families and a pickup for commercial users.
• Asian-market design: developed jointly in Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia rather than in Japan.

Soueast Freeca versions

• Soueast Freeca: the Chinese-badged version sold from 2001 to 2017.
• Mitsubishi Freeca: the original Taiwanese car, in wagon and pickup form.
• Mitsubishi Adventure: the Philippine version, redesigned in 2001 and 2004.
• Mitsubishi Kuda: the Indonesian version, with 1.6 and later 2.0-litre engines.
• Mitsubishi Jolie: the name used in Vietnam.
• Africar Landio and Jockey: South African copies assembled in Cape Town.

The Freeca shared its practical brief with the van-based Soueast Delica. The saloon from the same maker is the Soueast Lioncel, and more cars are in the Soueast collection.

Sources

• Mitsubishi Freeca, English Wikipedia: design, markets, engines, equipment and production years