Mitsubishi Motors is reportedly considering shutting down its automobile manufacturing operations in the United States.
According to a report from Japan’s Nikkei business daily cited by Reuters, the automaker is mulling ending production in the US because of declining demand in the market and an expiring union contract at its only plant in North America.
Two people familiar with the matter were quoted as saying that the proposed withdrawal from the Normal, Illinois plant is part of Mitsubishi Motors’ strategic shift to the growing Asian market. The sources added that the company is currently sorting out the details of a withdrawal.
However, Mitsubishi Motors declined to confirm or deny the report. “We are constantly reviewing our global manufacturing base, including the US plant, to maximize efficiency but we have reached no decision,” the automaker said in a statement.
In the early 2000s when things were going well, Mitsubishi’s Normal plant built more than 200,000 cars a year. That’s almost triple last year’s production of 69,178 Outlander Sport SUVs.
According to Nikkei, Mitsubishi is looking for a buyer for the plant, which was inaugurated in 1988 as a joint venture with Chrysler. The Japanese automaker is also expected to begin negotiations with labor representatives to maintain jobs for the plant’s 918 workers, who are represented by the United Auto Workers union.
The union’s contract with Mitsubishi expires in August. The plant is the only Japanese-owned US automobile factory whose hourly workers are represented by the UAW.
If the report proves true, it doesn’t necessarily mean Mitsubishi will also stop selling cars in the US. On the contrary, a source familiar with the company’s plans said the automaker wants to further increase sales. The company’s US sales rose 25 percent to 49,544 vehicles in the first half of this year.
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