CYPRESS, CA: When Mitsubishi announced it was going to set up shop in Canada a few years back, it felt like an unwise expedition to a foreign country by a group of misguided missionaries determined to convert the natives. As a result, that plan's cancellation seemed merciful.
The current effort by the Japanese manufacturer to enter the world's seventh biggest car market, on the other hand, features some of your neighbors who've come back from making it good in another country to tell you about a cookbook they found there that you may want to try.
This would be because the four people leading the foray into Canada from Mitsubishi Motors Sales of America's offices here in the LA area are not just Canucks, but proud Canucks who learned their trade in The Great White North and are now running the American operation.
Their leader is Pierre Gagnon, who is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the U.S. operation but who also comes from Timmins and can't wait to get back to Canada — well, in a business and spiritual sense. Gagnon says he and his wife and kids are thrilled with the life in Southern California and don't plan to give it up soon, but that's another story.
In a long discussion with Gagnon in his office here, it was clear that that he and his three Canadian colleagues relish the move of Mitsubishi into Canada in 2003 and the success they see as inevitable — if they execute their plan correctly.