The model name "Freeca" is coined from "free" and "ca", the Taiwanese for vehicle.[2] It was marketed as the Mitsubishi Adventure in the Philippines, Mitsubishi Kuda in Indonesia and Mitsubishi Jolie in Vietnam.
The vehicle was internally referred to as the Dynamic Family Wagon (DFW). It has a "semi-bonnet" design with a rear-wheel drive layout and body-on-frame chassis. Product development and parts production were shared between Taiwan, the Philippines and Indonesia.[2][3]
The Mitsubishi Freeca was first released on 11 September 1997, while the Adventure and Kuda was released in January 1998 and March 1999 respectively.[2][4][3]
The vehicle is also known as the Mitsubishi Kuda in Indonesia where it was locally manufactured by PT Krama Yudha Kesuma Motor and marketed by Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian until 2005 when its manufacturing plant was closed.[5] "Kuda" means horse in Indonesian.
In the Philippines, the Adventure was given major redesigns in 2001 and then 2004, then a minor facelift in late 2009. Trims include the GLX, GLX SE, GLS Sport, Super Sport and Grand Sport. The 50,000th Adventure was manufactured in the Philippines plant in March 2005.[6]
The original pre-facelift model continued to be sold in 2006 as the Adventure GX. They were both sold alongside the facelifted model. It was essentially a stripped down Adventure meant for commercial or fleet use. the "GX" serves as the most basic base-model of the Adventure lineup. Another version of the Adventure GX, called the Adventure TX, was made specifically to be used for taxicabs/UV Express use. Although the TX is seen more of a trim on the Adventure GX rather than another version of the car. Sales of the GX ended in 2017, but few remaining units were sold until 2018 in some dealerships.
Badge engineered Taiwanese-made Freecas were also briefly available in the South African market, locally assembled in Cape Town and sold as the Africar Landio and Africar Jockey.[7]
The vehicle was marketed as the Mitsubishi Freeca in Taiwan in either pickup or station wagon body styles. The station wagon was primarily marketed as a recreational vehicle with notable features such as anti-lock brakes with electronic brake force distribution and VHS or 5.1 surround DVD infotainment systems being unavailable in the facelifted 8-seater Exceed trim (replacing the Top spec 7 Seater Super Exceed).[2][8] The sole engine choice was the 2.0-litre 4G63 with either a carburetor or multi-point fuel injection. Fuel injection was later made standard across all vehicles.[8]
