In May, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines brought us for the first time to the Japanese carmaker's manufacturing facility in Laem Chabang, a port city in the Chonburi province of Thailand. This is the plant that produces the all-new Mirage small hatchback that is due to arrive in our market in the coming days. Two months later, in July, Mitsubishi once again gave us a tour of the high-tech assembly line, no doubt underscoring the importance of the car being built there.

Aside from the Mirage, this facility also produces the Montero Sport, the Strada, and the old and current Lancer. The whole compound houses three factories in all, with the third and newest one specifically constructed for the Mirage. The Mirage factory has the capacity to build 130,000 units a year, or 26.8 units per working hour.

Here are photos of our tour of the Mirage factory, arranged according to the order in which we saw these images. In other words, these are exactly what we witnessed from the time we set foot in the building all the way to the point of our exit. Good thing Mitsubishi allowed us to take photographs. Then again, we suspect that this is precisely the point of the tour--to show everyone that the Mirage is manufactured in a world-class facility.

Photos by Vernon B. Sarne