Mann said after hearing the first shot, she looked to her left and saw Houser fire at least four more times in a semi-circle in front of him.
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“Our motivation to exit from this facility is unrelated to labor costs or our relationship with the UAW”, said Hiroshi Harunari, chief of the company’s overseas operations, in the statement. The announcement came after Japanese media reported the automaker had decided to end production in the U.S.to focus on Asian markets. The union contract at the plant expires next month, with negotiations set to begin in earnest on Monday, said DeVary.
In the U.S., the automaker pursued an aggressive marketing campaign called “0-0-0”, which invited customers to buy cars on credit with no money down, no interest and delayed monthly payments.
All this is pending a final board decision on July 30, according to Bloomberg’s Jie Massachusetts, who writes that the Outlander Sport will be exported to the U.S. from the company’s Okazaki plant in Japan.
A slump in Russian demand since last year also dented output at the Illinois factory, which produced vehicles for export.
In June, Mitsubishi unveiled a face-lifted Outlander compact utility vehicle for sale in the U.S.to compete against the Ford (F) Escape, Toyota (TM) RAV4 and similar models.
Diamond Star Motors became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi in 1991, after the Japanese automaker bought all shares owned by Chrysler.
As the US market is expected grow even more in the future, it will continue to be a very important market and Mitsubishi Motors will continue to make efforts to grow its brand value and increase its sales volume in the US market. “In 2004, Mitsubishi laid off nearly one-third of its 3,000 employees at the Normal plant”.
The company plans to sell the US facilities.
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According to the company, it will stop production at November-end at the Bloomington-Normal plant in Central Illinois, which only produces the Outlander Sport SUV. Like other Japanese automakers, Mitsubishi has hoped to defuse rising trade tensions with the U.S.by manufacturing locally and employing American workers.
