Head of overseas operations for Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Osamu Masuko, said the plan is to export about 15,000 units annually.
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| Mitsubishi is looking to alternative markets to overcome slow sales in North America and Japan. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
If sales of the Galant prove successful, Masuko said other vehicles built in Normal may also be exported.
Smartly, MMNA is looking to alternative markets to overcome slow sales in North America as well as in Mitsubishi's home market in Japan.
If the Galant finds success in these markets, MMNA's Normal, Illinois plant will be the direct benefactor, recently having been forced to shut down one of its two shifts due to a drop in North American sales, laying off 1,200 workers and cutting production by 22 percent to 140,000 units annually. The plant can build a total of 270,000 vehicles.
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| Despite the brand's 2004 doldrums, Rich Gilligan, CEO of MMNA, said he expects the automaker's sales to improve over fiscal year 2005. (Photo: Trevor Hofmann, Canadian Auto Press) |
MMNA's U.S. sales dove 37 percent to 161,600 units in 2004, the lowest in fifteen years and less than half of what it sold just two years prior. Also, its U.S. marketshare dropped half of a percentage point to 1.0 percent.
Despite the brand's 2004 doldrums, Gilligan said he expects the automaker's sales to improve over fiscal year 2005. He, like his predecessor, blamed last year's decline on the company's intentional pullback of low-margin fleet sales, as well as the result of a decision to end its policy of "no credit, no problem".
Picking up sales will be the all-new Mitsubishi Eclipse that debuted at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this week, the previous versions being popular among the import tuner crowd. The new coupe will also be built in the Normal factory, boosting output and no doubt morale.