Japan's number-four carmaker, heavily in debt and its stock price under attack by investors, confidently predicted the new vehicles would give a badly needed shot in the arm both to its own market share and to Japan's sluggish car market.

"I believe these prices will give our customers satisfaction," Mitsubishi Motors president Katsuhiko Kawasoe told a news conference. "I am convinced that the new minivehicles will break through the economic slump and pull up depressed sales of new automobiles," he said.

Mitsubishi was the first of five Japanese minicar makers that will unveil new models this week, following a tightening of safety standards for these unique vehicles that account for more than one in four automobiles on Japanese roads.

Analysts had widely expected the new models, which are bigger and featuresubstantially improved safety features, to be more expensive than their predecessors.

"This is clearly a benchmark," said ING Baring Securities analyst Kunihiko Shiohara. "The others must be wondering whether they'll be able to recover their research and development costs."

Toyota Motor Co affiliate Daihatsu Motor Co launched its newminis on Tuesday, it will be followed by segment leader Suzuki Motor Corp on Wednesday and Honda Motor Co Ltd and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd on the last two days of the week.

Mitsubishi said its new models, priced from 555,000 yen to 1.50 million yen ($4,111 to $11,100), would be on average 20,000 to 30,000 yen cheaper than existing models and 10 per cent more fuel-efficient, despite an average weight gain of about 30 to 40 kilograms.

Officials said the price cuts were made possible by savings in production costs, largely by reducing the number of parts per vehicle and boosting part sharing between different models.

The company also developed a new lean-burn minivehicleengine, which is restricted to 660 cc by current government regulations. The government also, however, grants minicars special tax treatment that analysts say cuts 10 per cent or more from purchasing costs compared with bigger vehicles.

Mitsubishi Motors managing director Shoichi Yamamoto said the company forecast a 10 percent increase in Japan's minivehicle sales for the fiscal half-year that began on October 1, and that it would boost its minivehicle market share to nearly 18 percent from less than 15 per cent at present.

But Mitsubishi's bullishness did not seem to immediatelyimpress investors, who have pushed its shares to record lows in recent months after it announced a consolidated net loss of more than 100 billion yen in the fiscal year to March 31.

Analysts said the market was waiting for bolder restructuring measures, including a possible withdrawal from certain product lines. Mitsubishi is a leading Japanese producer of trucks and mid-sized cars as well as minivehicles.