Mitsubishi 380 stateless!

MITSUBISHI Australia has reacted cautiously to United States claims that the next-generation right-hand drive Mitsubishi large car will be sourced solely from the US.

An Automotive News report in the US, quoting a Japanese newspaper, said Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) could export the next-generation Galant sedan from its Illinois plant in the United States to Europe, Japan and the Middle East.

The daily Nikkan Kogyo has said production of the next Galant will cease in Japan, making the Illinois factory the global source for the car, including right-hand drive markets.

There was no mention of Australia’s role in the next-generation car.

Mitsubishi Motors Australia spokesman Kevin Taylor could neither confirm nor deny the report after an urgent communique to Japan seeking clarification.

"As far as we’re concerned it’s business as usual," he told GoAuto this week.

Japan HQ had told Mr Taylor that MMC was "just conducting an evaluation of our product strategy" and no decisions had been reached, a point echoed by Japanese-based MMC spokesman Shingo Kimura.

"We haven’t decided on the specific plans," Mr Kimura said.

Nikkan Kogo reported that if the new plan was true, it would be in line with a previously announced change in Mitsubishi’s product strategy. It would also mean the end of local production of the 380.

In playing down the Japanese article, Mr Taylor said the company’s product strategy had changed three times in the past five years.

Centralising production at the Illinois plant would lift operations there as the factory has been operating on a single shift for more than a year.

To boost production, the newspaper said Mitsubishi planned to start exporting the current Galant from Illinois to Russia, the Ukraine and the Middle East from next June.

Mitsubishi is in the first year of a three-year restructuring that calls for a switch in product planning. It currently builds several models specific to the market where they are made and sold, including the 380 in Australia.

The new plan calls for the company to concentrate on global models that can be sold in multiple markets. Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko explained the change in a recent edition of Automotive News.

"Up until now, Mitsubishi was making vehicles that were sort of regionally dedicated. They were vehicles that were only meeting the needs of that region," he told the paper.

"Vehicles produced in the United States were only sold in the United States, and those produced in Australia were only sold in Australia. In terms of profitability and product development, this led to great problems."Instead, he said, Mitsubishi wants to develop "global strategic cars" that "we could be selling to other parts of the world, but producing in the market with the biggest demand for that vehicle".