Mitsubishi Rethinks US Production

The global economic crisis strikes again! Mitsubishi plans to modify the initial plans of the Normal, Illinois plant in order to concentrate more on small cars, especially addressed to non-US markets. The Illinois-based production facility had am initial goal of 240,000 units per year but, due to low demand in the United States, less than 100,000 cars were actually produced, Autoblog wrote today citing Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko.

Basically, Masuko wants to rethink the Illinois plant production and focus less on Galant and Eclipse, two models which recorded decreased popularity since the beginning of the global economic crisis. Since sales of small cars with improved fuel saving recorded an increasing trend, Mitsubishi may move produce of Lancer or Outlander to Illinois, but only for export markets, the aforementioned source added.

Although Mitsubishi sold approximately 80,000 units in the United States this year, Masuko expects to see sales passing the 100,000 units milestone if such a move is agreed by the board, with small cars featuring improved fuel consumption meeting the demand of most customers.

More importantly, Mitsubishi's CEO denied rumors saying that the Normal plant may get closed, “having just been given a four-year extension with a UAW labor deal,” as Autoblog wrote.

This is not the first time when car manufacturers with United States-based production facilities alter the production of certain models sold on the domestic markets in order to concentrate more on small cars providing lowered fuel consumption. For instance, Volvo decided to cut several thousands jobs and to reduce production of a few models after the US demand was massively decreased.