TOKYO, July 27, 2015 - (ACN Newswire) - Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced today that Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc., (MMNA) a wholly owned subsidiary of MMC in the United States, is preparing to end production of its sole production model "Outlander Sport" at its Normal plant at the end of November 2015 and its production will be consolidated in Okazaki plant in Japan, pending a final decision by the MMC Board of Directors on July 30.
MMNA will be making efforts to identify a buyer with the help from United Auto Workers (UAW).
Mitsubishi Motors' production in the United States started in 1988 as Diamond Star Motors (DSM, later re-named as MMNA) which was a joint venture company with Chrysler Corporation.
DSM has become a wholly owned subsidiary of MMC in 1991 after MMC bought all DSM shares owned by Chrysler Corporation.
In 2000 the production volume reached more than 222 thousand units, but after that the plant faced very steep reduction in production units due to, among others, the end of OEM supply for Chrysler Corporation and the economic crisis. In 2009, the production volume bottomed as low as 18.5 thousand units.
From 2012 and onward MMNA started production of Outlander Sport not only for North American market and but also for Russia, Middle East and Latin America markets, in order to secure production volume to gain production efficiency and improve utilization.
With the recovery of North American market, production volume increased to 70 thousand units in 2013, however, which is scale-wise low compared to other automobile assembly plants in North America. Then production order from Russia, which accounted for more than 30% of the total production volume, significantly dropped since the second half of 2014, due to Russian economic crisis, which caused the production volume of MMNA plant to be even lower.
Taking the aforementioned situation into account, MMC decided to end production at Normal plant and consolidate the production Okazaki plant in Japan and Outlander Sport will be exported from Okazaki to North American as from next model year.
As the US market is expected grow even more in the future, it will continue to be a very important market and Mitsubishi Motors will continue to make efforts to grow its brand value and increase its sales volume in the US market.
Outline of MMNA
1. Location : (Head Office) Cypress, California
(Plant) Bloomington-Normal, Illinois
2. Register Capital: 398,812 thousand US dollars
3. Shareholder: Mitsubishi Motors Corporation
4. Representative: Gayu Uesugi, Chairman of the Board and CEO
5. Number of Employees (June 2015): (Total) approximately 1,650
(Plant) approximately 1,250
6. History - Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) and Chrysler Corporation jointly established Diamond Star Motors (DSM, later re-named to MMNA) and started production there in 1988 - In 1991 MMC bought all shares of DSM which are owned by Chrysler Corporation - Starting with "Eclipse" and later addin "Galant" "Spider" "Endeavor", between 1988 and 2012, MMNA produced the models marketed mainly in North America market for Mitsubishi brand, and also supplied vehicles to Chrysler Corporation under contracts until 2005. - Currently MMNA is producing "Outlander Sport" - Production volume in 2014 was 69 thousand unitsfor global market. - Maximum production volume was 222 thousand units in 2000 - Accumulated production volume is approximately 3,250 thousand units
About Mitsubishi Motors
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is the fifth largest automaker in Japan and the fifteenth largest in the world by global unit sales. It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Throughout its history it has courted alliances with foreign partners, a strategy pioneered by their first president Tomio Kubo to encourage expansion, and continued by his successors. A significant stake was sold to Chrysler Corporation in 1971 which it held for 22 years, while DaimlerChrysler was a controlling shareholder between 2000 and 2005. Long term joint manufacturing and technology licencing deals with the Hyundai Motor Company in South Korea and Proton in Malaysia were also forged, while in Europe the company co-owned the largest automobile manufacturing plant in the Netherlands with Volvo for ten years in the 1990s, before taking sole ownership in 2001.
Source: Mitsubishi Motors
Contact:
Mitsubishi Motors Public Relations Department http://www.mitsubishi-motors.com +81-3-6852-4275
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