Mitsubishi Oz: One car line is enough!

THE new managing director of Mitsubishi Motors Australia has shot down the conventional wisdom that its assembly plant needs two car lines to survive.

Rob McEniry told a press conference on Tuesday that the unique design of the plant and the arrangements it has with the workforce meant it could be profitable making just 30,000 cars a year.

Asked if he thought that the manufacturing plant had a viable future in Australia he said: "Absolutely I do. If you take what they have built into the flexibility to ride out the ups and downs, then yes it does (have a future)."Asked if he thought that a second product line was necessary for the plant’s survival he said: "I don’t believe it is."He said the plant could remain viable on a volume of 40,000 units a year or "even 30,000".

But Mr McEniry added that his team was looking at the potential to build another existing Mitsubishi model in Adelaide and that there were investigations into selling production capacity to another manufacturer.

He said the present line rate was 170 a day.

This could be varied down to 125 cars a day and raised up to 195 cars a day, which equates to 40,000 units a year.

He said that fixing Mitsubishi’s export problems to the Middle East was high on the agenda but added that he was a "great believer in getting the home market fixed first".

He warned that Australian car plants should not rely on exports for their viability because exports were very high risk.

"As long as it is incremental and you can take the ups and downs of that business then it is fine, but I would not want to be relying on exports to save the day."