Mitsubishi Motors

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Mitsubishi Motors Corporation

Mitsubishi Motors Headquarters building in Shiba, Minato

Native name 三菱自動車工業株式会社

Romanized name Mitsubishi Jidōsha Kōgyō KK

Formerly Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.

Type Public

Traded as TYO: 7211

Industry Automotive

Predecessor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Motor and Cars

Business

Founded April 22, 1970; 49 years ago

Founder Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Headquarters Minato, Tokyo, Japan

Number of locations Cypress, California, United States

Schiphol-Rijk, Netherlands
Santa Rosa, Laguna, Philippines
Khlong Luang, Pathum Thani, Thailand
Cikarang, West Java, Indonesia

Key people Osamu Masuko (President)

Takao Kato (CEO)

Products Passenger cars, economy cars, commercial

vehicles

Production output 1,079,346 vehicles (FY2016) 357,000

Vehicles (HKD 2021) [1]

Revenue ¥2.514 trillion (FY2018)[2]

Operating income ¥111.815 billion (FY2018)[2]

Net income ¥119.850 billion (FY2018)[2]

Total assets ¥2.010 trillion (FY2018)[2]

Total equity ¥945.818 billion (FY2018)[2]

Owners Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. (34.03%)[3]

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (10.77%)
Mitsubishi Corporation (9.25%)
JTSB investment trusts (2.47%)
TMTBJ investment trusts (2.13%)
 Number of 29,555 (consolidated as of 31 March 2017)[4]
employees

Subsidiaries Transportation:'
Soueast
Hunan Changfeng Motor Nanshan
Mitsubishi Motors.Co.Ltd.
Ralliart
Engines:
Harbin Dongan Automotive Engine
Manufacturing
Sports:
Urawa Red Diamonds
Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima
International:
Mitsubishi Motors Australia
Mitsubishi Motors Europe
Mitsubishi Motors North America
Mitsubishi Motors Philippines
Mitsubishi Motors (Thailand)

Website www.mitsubishi-motors.com

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (Japanese: 三菱自動車工業株式会社 Hepburn: Mitsubishi Jidōsha

Kōgyō KK, IPA: [mits bi i][5]) is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered
in Minato, Tokyo, Japan.[6] In 2011, Mitsubishi Motors was the sixth-biggest
Japanese automaker and the nineteenth-biggest worldwide by production.[7] From October 2016
onwards, Mitsubishi has been one-third (34%) owned by Nissan, and thus a part of the Renault–
Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance.[8]
Besides being part of the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, it is also a part of Mitsubishi keiretsu,
formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and the company was originally formed in 1970 from
the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.[9]
Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation, which builds commercial grade trucks, buses and heavy
construction equipment, was formerly a part of Mitsubishi Motors, but is now separate from
Mitsubishi Motors, and is owned by the German automotive corporation Daimler AG (though
Mitsubishi continues to own a small stake).

Contents

 1History
o 1.1Post-war era
o 1.2Chrysler connection
 1.2.11970s
 1.2.21980s
  1.2.3Diamond-Star Motors
 1.2.41988 IPO
 1.2.51990s
o 1.3Independence
o 1.4Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance membership
 2Other alliances
o 2.11991– Volvo Cars
o 2.21999– Volvo Trucks
o 2.3Groupe PSA
o 2.4Volkswagen
o 2.5Colt and Lonsdale
o 2.6Proton
o 2.7Hyundai
o 2.8Hindustan
o 2.9Samcor
o 2.10Chinese joint ventures
o 2.11Japan Sales Channels
o 2.122010– Nissan
o 2.132016 Take-over by Nissan
 3Historical troubles
o 3.1Asian economic downturn
o 3.2Vehicle defect cover-up
o 3.30–0–0
o 3.4End of Australian production
o 3.5End of Western European production
o 3.6End of North American production
o 3.7Fuel economy scandal
 4Revitalization plan
 5Management
 6Electric vehicles
 7Motorsport
o 7.1Circuit racing
o 7.2Off-road racing
 8Partnership with Jackie Chan
 9Locations
o 9.1Research, design and administration
o 9.2Production facilities
 10Leadership
 11See also
 12References
 13External links

History[edit]
Workers at Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd alongside one of the prototype Mitsubishi Model A automobiles.

Mitsubishi's automotive origins date back to 1917, when the Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.
introduced the Mitsubishi Model A, Japan's first series-production automobile.[10] An entirely hand-
built seven-seater sedan based on the Fiat Tipo 3, it proved expensive compared to its American
and European mass-produced rivals, and was discontinued in 1921 after only 22 had been built.[11]
In 1934, Mitsubishi Shipbuilding was merged with the Mitsubishi Aircraft Co., a company established
in 1920 to manufacture aircraft engines and other parts. The unified company was known
as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), and was the largest private company in Japan.[12] MHI
concentrated on manufacturing aircraft, ships, railroad cars and machinery, but in 1937 developed
the PX33, a prototype sedan for military use. It was the first Japanese-built passenger car with full-
time four-wheel drive, a technology the company would return to almost fifty years later in its quest
for motorsport and sales success.[13]

A 1937 Mitsubishi PX33 on display at the Mondial de l'Automobile in September 2006.

Post-war era[edit]

Logo of Mitsubishi Motors from 1970 to 2017

Immediately following the end of the Second World War, the company returned to manufacturing
vehicles. Fuso bus production resumed, while a small three-wheeled cargo vehicle called
the Mizushima and a scooter called the Silver Pigeon were also developed. However,
the zaibatsu (Japan's family-controlled industrial conglomerates) were ordered to be dismantled by
the Allied powers in 1950, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was split into three regional companies,
each with an involvement in motor vehicle development: West Japan Heavy-Industries, Central
Japan Heavy-Industries, and East Japan Heavy-Industries.
East Japan Heavy-Industries began importing the Henry J, an inexpensive American sedan built
by Kaiser Motors, in knockdown kit (CKD) form in 1951, and continued to bring them to Japan for the
remainder of the car's three-year production run. The same year, Central Japan Heavy-Industries
concluded a similar contract with Willys (now owned by Kaiser) for CKD-assembled Jeep CJ-3Bs.
This deal proved more durable, with licensed Mitsubishi Jeeps in production until 1998, thirty years
after Willys themselves had replaced the model.
By the beginning of the 1960s Japan's economy was gearing up; wages were rising and the idea of
family motoring was taking off. Central Japan Heavy-Industries, now known as Shin Mitsubishi
Heavy-Industries, had already re-established an automotive department in its headquarters in 1953.
Now it was ready to introduce the Mitsubishi 500, a mass-market sedan, to meet the new demand
from consumers. It followed this in 1962 with the Minica kei car and the Colt 1000, the first of
its Colt line of family cars, in 1963. In 1964, Mitsubishi introduced its largest passenger sedan,
the Mitsubishi Debonair as a luxury car primarily for the Japanese market, and was used by
senior Mitsubishi executives as a company car.
West Japan Heavy-Industries (now renamed Mitsubishi Shipbuilding & Engineering) and East Japan
Heavy-Industries (now Mitsubishi Nihon Heavy-Industries) had also expanded their automotive
departments in the 1950s, and the three were re-integrated as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 1964.
Within three years its output was over 75,000 vehicles annually. Following the successful
introduction of the first Galant in 1969 and similar growth with its commercial vehicle division, it was
decided that the company should create a single operation to focus on the automotive industry.
Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) was formed on April 22, 1970 as a wholly owned subsidiary of
MHI under the leadership of Tomio Kubo, a successful engineer from the aircraft division.[citation needed]
The logo of three red diamonds, shared with over forty other companies within the keiretsu, predates
Mitsubishi Motors itself by almost a century. It was chosen by Iwasaki Yatarō, the founder
of Mitsubishi, as it was suggestive of the emblem of the Tosa Clan who first employed him, and
because his own family crest was three rhombuses stacked atop each other. The name Mitsubishi (
三菱) consists of two parts: "mitsu" meaning "three" and "hishi" (which becomes "bishi"
under rendaku) meaning "water caltrop" (also called "water chestnut"), and hence "rhombus", which
is reflected in the company's logo.[14]
Chrysler connection[edit]
1970s[edit]
Part of Mr. Kubo's expansion strategy was to increase exports by forging alliances with well-
established foreign companies. Therefore, in 1971 MHI sold U.S. automotive giant Chrysler a 15
percent share in the new company. Thanks to this deal, Chrysler began selling the Galant in the
United States as the Dodge Colt (which was the first rebadged Mitsubishi product sold by Chrysler),
pushing MMC's annual production beyond 250,000 vehicles. In 1977, the Galant was sold as
the Chrysler Sigma in Australia.
A 1973 Mitsubishi Galant, the basis for the company's first captive import deal with Chrysler.

By 1977, a network of "Colt"-branded distribution and sales dealerships had been established across
Europe, as Mitsubishi sought to begin selling vehicles directly. Annual production had by now grown
from 500,000 vehicles in 1973 to 965,000 in 1978, when Chrysler began selling the Galant as
the Dodge Challenger and the Plymouth Sapporo. However, this expansion was beginning to cause
friction; Chrysler saw their overseas markets for subcompacts as being directly encroached by their
Japanese partners, while MMC felt the Americans were demanding too much say in their corporate
decisions.
1980s[edit]
Mitsubishi finally achieved annual production of one million cars in 1980, but by this time its ally was
not so healthy; As part of its battle to avoid bankruptcy, Chrysler was forced to sell its Australian
manufacturing division to MMC that year. The new Japanese owners renamed it Mitsubishi Motors
Australia Ltd (MMAL).
In 1982, the Mitsubishi brand was introduced to the American market for the first time.
The Tredia sedan, and the Cordia and Starion coupés, were initially sold through seventy dealers in
22 states, with an allocation of 30,000 vehicles between them. This quota, restricted by mutual
agreement between the two countries' governments, had to be included among the 120,000 cars
earmarked for Chrysler. Toward the end of the 1980s, as MMC initiated a major push to increase its
U.S. presence, it aired its first national television advertising campaign, and made plans to increase
its dealer network to 340 dealers.
In 1986 Mitsubishi reached an agreement with Liuzhou Automotive to assemble their Minicab kei
van and truck there, making Mitsubishi the third Japanese manufacturer (after Daihatsu and Suzuki)
to begin assembly in China. Before receiving government approval for this project, Mitsubishi had to
express contrition over "defective" Mitsubishi trucks imported to China in 1984 and 1985.[15] By 1989,
Mitsubishi's worldwide production, including its overseas affiliates, had reached 1.5 million units.
Diamond-Star Motors