Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has decided to withdraw from vehicle production in the United States as part of its efforts to focus more on growing Asian markets, sources said Friday.
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Mitsubishi is one of Japan’s smallest carmakers. “We are constantly reviewing our global manufacturing base, including (the US plant), to maximize efficiency but we have reached no decision”, it said in a statement.
Japan’s Nikkei news service released a report today that the Japanese automaker will stop production at the Central Illinois plant and look for a buyer.
Kyodo News also reported the plant will close.
Normal Mayor Chris Koos, in an email on Thursday afternoon, said, “I have heard nothing, and am trying to get information” from the plant, which is located about 140 miles southwest of Chicago.
1,900 people work at the Normal plant, with a union contract that expires next month.
“We haven’t heard anything”, he said in a phone interview. In the meantime, “it’s business as usual here – we’re pumping out cars”. The Normal plant has been open since 1988.
Mitsubishi have been actively investing in Asia, building a production site in Thailand and buying a factory in the Philippines from Ford.
Annual production at the factory, which makes the Outlander SUV, has fallen to 64,000 vehicles from more than 200,000 in 2002.
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Last year the plant made 69,178 vehicles, according to Mitsubishi.
