Honda Cars Philippines, Inc. (HCPI) is pruning yet another vehicle from their lineup, as the brand has officially confirmed the discontinuation of the 7-seater Honda Mobilio following its conspicuous removal on the local dealer’s website. This comes at the heels of Honda Jazz’s discontinuation a few months ago.

This doesn’t mean that Honda will no longer have a 7-seater in their line-up. The brand still has the Honda CR-V and the BR-V out in the market. It’s just unfortunate that the Honda Mobilio did not perform well. Honda managed to sell just 169 units of the Mobilio versus the 2,041 unit sales of the BR-V in 2020. The strong competition in the segment also made it hard for the Honda Mobilio to keep up. It was competing with the Toyota Avanza, Suzuki Ertiga, and Mitsubishi Xpander. The market is also shifting towards crossovers, SUVs, and even pick-ups. It’s, therefore, no surprise that Honda has decided to drop the model.

HCPI first unveiled the Mobilio in the Philippines back in April 2015 as their answer to the Toyota Avanza and Suzuki Ertiga. One of the strongest selling points of the car was its powerful engine derived from the Honda City/Jazz. The 1.5L i-VTEC engine produces 120 PS with 145 Nm of torque and can be mated to either a CVT or a 5-speed manual gearbox. The Honda Mobilio further received a face-lift in 2018, making it sportier than ever. It was also equipped with a new digital air-conditioning system, a three-gauge instrument panel, and sleek touchscreen infotainment.

With the exit of the Honda Mobilio, the competition will lighten up for Toyota Avanza, Mitsubishi Xpander, and the Suzuki Ertiga. These models, along with the Mobilio, have been battling it out in the small MPV market for quite a while. Mobilio’s exit is also expected to increase the sales of the Honda BR-V as buyers would no longer be torn between the almost similar 7-seater cars.