Mitsubishi News and Information

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20150723/NEWS/150729595

*Note: This does in no way signal the end of Mitsubishi in North America, they are still very much committed to the American Markets.

NORMAL — As hiring continues and improvements to the Normal plant’s parking lot are being made, a report has surfaced that Mitsubishi Motors will stop making vehicles in the U.S.
According to Japan’s Nikkei news service, Mitsubishi Motors will cease production at the plant and try to find a buyer for it.
Heather Wagner, Normal’s communications manager, said officials had talked Thursday.
“We talked to officials with the local plant (Thursday) afternoon. They had no details,” she said.
The plant has about 1,250 employees and has an economic impact of about $120 million annually to the local economy, according to the Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. website.
Opened in 1988, the plant has built 12 different vehicle models. Currently, the Outlander Sport crossover is the only vehicle built there, with 69,178 produced in 2014, the website says.
That is far less than the plant’s annual capacity of 120,000 units and accounts for less than 10 percent of Mitsubishi Motors’ global production, according to Nikkei.
The company intends to focus on its growing Asian market, Nikkei says. It has built a plant in Thailand for the Mirage and is building facilities in Indonesia.
Mitsubishi spokesman Dan Irvin would not comment on the future of the Normal plant.
“We do not have a statement at this time, however, as an organization, we continuously assess our supply chain to ensure we remain competitive and best positioned to serve our customers,” Irvin said in an email.
In an interview with WardsAuto in June, Don Swearingen, MMNA executive vice president, said, “We are doing an evaluation of the plant. We just have to determine what’s the best use of (the Normal facility), and then make some decisions on what we’re going to do with it.”
Meanwhile, the company has hired people who will work 10-hour shifts, and suppliers have three-month plans, in addition to the work being done on the parking lot.
The contract with the United Auto Workers, which represents the production and maintenance employees, expires in August. The Nikkei report says the company plans to “maintain employment for the Illinois workers.”
“We haven’t heard anything,” Kyle Young, vice president of UAW Local 2488, told Reuters on Thursday. “We’re supposed to have negotiations coming up. It’s business as usual here — we’re pumping out cars.”
The plant started as a joint venture with Chrysler called Diamond-Star Motors. Mitsubishi bought Chrysler’s shares of the company in 1991.