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UPDATE: Mitsubishi Will Sell or Close U.S. Plant by November
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. intends to shutter its sole U.S. assembly plant by November if it fails to find a buyer before then, Automotive News reports.
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Mitsubishi Motors Corp. intends to shutter its sole U.S. assembly plant by November if it fails to find a buyer before then, Automotive News reports. The newspaper cites a letter from management to the company's employees and dealers.
MMC blames the closure on "insufficient" sales in the U.S. and a sharp drop in the number of vehicles its American plant ships to Russia. The company vows to supply the American market with an expanded product lineup of vehicles made in Japan.
The U.S. factory's output peaked at some 222,000 units in 2000. But MMC's overall sales in the U.S. totaled only 49,600 vehicles in the first half of 2015, including just 17,900 units produced locally, according to Autodata Corp.
MMC previously disclosed the Illinois facility has a fixed annual overhead cost of $250 million. The factory is the only Japanese-owned assembly plant in the U.S. whose workforce is unionized. The company's labor agreement there with the United Auto Workers union expires in September.
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