Mitsubishi’s U.S. Unit Plans Job Cuts in Restructuring
Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. said Tuesday that it will dismiss 22 employees, including three vice presidents, and eliminate about 50 other positions through attrition as it attempts to return its U.S. operations to profitability.
A Mitsubishi spokesman refused to identify the vice presidents.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Oct. 31, 1998 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Saturday October 31, 1998 Orange County Edition Business Part C Page 2 Financial Desk 2 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Mitsubishi profits--Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said its U.S. operations made small profits last year and so far this year, and its share of the U.S. car market has remained stable at 1.2%. Mitsubishi’s U.S. finances and market-share trend were misstated in an Oct. 21 story.
The layoffs and payroll trimming were ordered by the Cypress-based company’s executive committee as it continues a corporate reorganization begun six months ago by Chief Operating Officer Pierre Gagnon.
The company said it will close five regional offices of a subsidiary, Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America, by next summer, moving some operations to other sales offices and centralizing others at corporate headquarters in Cypress.
The credit company will lose 40 positions, 15 through layoffs, while the sales operation will lose 30 posts, seven through layoffs, a spokesman said.
Mitsubishi also created three new departments, combined its parts and service operations and formed a new sales operations unit with expanded responsibilities.
Some Mitsubishi watchers believe the catalyst for the reorganization was the appointment in April of longtime Mitsubishi executive Takashi Sonobe to head both the U.S. sales operation in Cypress and Mitsubishi’s North American manufacturing operation in Illinois--the first time the two companies have had the same president.
Mitsubishi Motor Sales is responsible for importing and distributing Mitsubishi vehicles made in Japan and Illinois.
Mitsubishi, the No. 5 Japanese car company in the U.S., has been losing market share for nearly a year and has lost almost $1 billion on its U.S. operations since 1996, according to the trade journal Automotive News.
Nissan Motor Corp., the No. 3 Japanese car company in the U.S., also has been losing market share and money here, while rivals Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. have posted strong profits on healthy sales.
Mazda Motor Corp., the No. 4 Japanese car company in the U.S., has seen sales jump in the past nine months under a reorganization instituted last year when Ford Motor Co. took control of Mazda in Japan.
