Mitsubishi Motors Will Close U.S. Plant in May
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will completely close its assembly plant in Normal, Ill., in May, The Nikkei reports.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will completely close its assembly plant in Normal, Ill., in May, The Nikkei reports.
MMC stopped making Outlander SUVs at the facility two months ago and consolidated production at its Japanese factory in Okazaki. About 250 of the plant’s 1,300 workers have stayed on to make replacement parts, but that operation will end this spring, according to the newspaper.
The company is expected to book a loss on the closure of 20-30 billion yen ($169-$254 million) in the current fiscal year ending March 31.
The factory opened in 1988 as a joint venture with Chrysler Corp., which owned 34% of MMC at the time. The Japanese company took over the facility in 1991. Output peaked at 220,000 vehicles in 2000, but production had dwindled to about 69,000 units by 2014.
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