Mitsubishi Motors suffers a massive 475 billion yen loss

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is struggling financially as it has just posted a massive loss of record 474.8 billion yen in fiscal 2004. This is much more than what it suffered last year with the loss figures of 215.4 billion yen. The company blamed much of this on the sluggish sales in Japan and North America.

The company also spent a massive 112.4 billion yen on restructuring plants in the United States and Australia. This added to the losses. More money was spent in the form of compensation to Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. investors with the amount coming to around 74.7 billion yen. In addition, they also spent 25.2 billion yen to conduct free auto-inspection programs for Mitsubishi vehicle owners in Japan. This was to fix the defects that surfaced in March 2004.

Mitsubishi is however hoping for changing things around this year with a spate of new launches planned. They would be targeting new customers in both the home market and the United States. MMC President Osamu Masuko spoke to the media about this latest news: “We faced an unprecedented crisis . . . and were at the nadir of adversity in fiscal 2004.”

The company sold 227,000 vehicles in Japan, 7,000 units more than the sales target.