It definitely is the end of an era, for Mitsubishi Motors North America (MMNA), at least. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) announced that their North American plant is to be shuttered.
The sole model that is being produced in this plant is the ‘Outlander Sport’, and once its production ends in November 2015, the outstanding production units will be handled in the Okazaki plant in Japan, resulting in the Outlander Sport to be exported from Okazaki to North America as from the next model year.
This is of course pending a final decision by the MMC Board of Directors on July 30. MMNA is in the process of identifying a buyer with the assistance from United Auto Workers (UAW).
Just to recap, Mitsubishi Motors’ production in the US started in 1988, as Diamond Star Motors (DSM, later renamed to MMNA), which was a joint venture with Chrysler Corporation. It then became a wholly owned subsidiary of MMC in 1991 after MMC bought all DSM shares owned by Chrysler Corporation.
In 2000, production volume peaked to more than 222,000 units, but once Chrysler Corporation ended their OEM supply agreement with them, things started going downhill. Coupled with the economic crisis, production volume slumped to 18,500 units.
By 2012, MMNA began production of the ‘Outlander Sport’ not only for the North American market but also for Russia, Middle East and Latin American markets, in a bid to secure production volume and gain production efficiency and maximise utilisation.
When the North American market recovered, production volume increased to 70,000 units in 2013, but orders from Russia, which accounted for more than 30%, soon slowed in 2014 due to the Russian economic crisis. Moving forward, Mitsubishi aims to remain committed to the US market, and it will continue make efforts to grow its brand value and increase its sales volume in the US market.
Here’s a gallery of the Outlander Sport, looks quite familiar doesn’t it? It’s basically our Mitsubishi ASX.
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Proton should re-badge this model long time ago to have an SUV in their line up. They are too concentrated to compete with Perodua (a war which they can’t win), totally lost their focus.
Now is still not too late.
Sudah lah… baik angkat saki baki dari US factory jual sini dengan harga lelong lagi laku.