The Mitsubishi Versa Van offers 15 seats, 2.5L turbodiesel, priced at Php 1.649M

As you may already know, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines is resurrecting the old beloved Versa Van nameplate in our market. Once the passenger version of the still alive and kicking L300, it’s now a rebadged version of the Nissan Urvan.

This isn’t the first time the Nissan Urvan has been rebadged into something else. In Japan, Isuzu offers the Como and Mitsubishi Fuso offers it as the Canter Van. This is also not the first time Nissan and Mitsubishi shared a model locally, as the former currently sells the Livina, a rebadged version of the popular Mitsubishi Xpander.

And a rebadge it certainly looks as the Mitsubishi Versa Van is visibly largely identical to the latest version of the Nissan Urvan, save for a few minor differences. 

Front and center is Nissan’s signature V-Motion grille, albeit with a gloss and matte black finish instead of matte silver and black, and with Mitsubishi’s Three-Diamond Mark logo instead of the Nissan logo. Doors, fixed windows, and taillights are exactly the same, while other Nissan and Urvan badging are replaced with Mitsubishi and Versa Van badges and decals.

It’s the same story inside which is shared completely with the Urvan as well. A three-spoke Nissan steering wheel remains, but with a Mitsubishi badge instead, and it’s sold only with a 15-seater capacity, including the driver.

Do note that unlike its Nissan basis, the Versa Van is available solely in narrowbody form and in a single 2.5D GLX M/T variant. It measures at 4,710mm long, 1,990mm wide, and 1,695mm tall.

With that, you get halogen headlights, 15-inch steel wheels with wheel covers, urethane steering wheel, fabric seats, 1DIN audio head unit with two speakers, manual air conditioning controls, rear ceiling air vents, and analog gauges with an information display in the center.

The powertrain should also be familiar. It doesn’t get Mitsubishi’s 4N16 engine, which the Japanese-spec Nissan Caravan gets, in favor of the Nissan Urvan’s tried-and-tested 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel (YD25) engine, making 129 horsepower and 356Nm of torque, mated exclusively to a five-speed manual transmission. 

Standard safety features are dual front airbags, anti-lock braking system (ABS) with electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD), and stability control.

The Mitsubishi Versa Van is now available at all Mitsubishi Motors dealerships in the Philippines with a suggested retail price (SRP) of Php 1,649,000.

Interestingly, this is Php 89,000 more expensive than its direct Nissan Urvan counterpart, the Urvan Standard M/T (Php 1,560,000). Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how this will perform compared to its Nissan sibling. After all, we do know that the Nissan Livina did experience a good amount of success despite criticism of it being a rebadge of an older Mitsubishi Xpander.

^{Photos from Mitsubishi Motors Philippines}