mitsubishi getting back on track?

 

PARIS, Jan 28 (AFP) - PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. signalled Friday they expected to reach a deal next week for Mitsubishi to produce vehicles for the French group.

Peugeot said it was in "advanced" talks with Mitsubishi to produce a new4x4 (four-wheel-drive) vehicle, marking the French group's entry into the small but booming sport-utility vehicle (SUV) market in Europe.

A deal was expected to be finalised next week during a visit to Japan by Peugeot chief executive Jean-Martin Folz, the company said.

A Peugeot spokesman said that there was "a proposal of cooperation to develop jointly a 4x4; it's not the purchase of parts," but did not provide further details.

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi said Friday it expected to sign a contract with Peugeot early February to provide its passengers cars to the French firm, under an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) arrangement.

Recent press reports in Japan have said that Mitsubishi would start supplying SUVs and other vehicles to Peugeot on an OEM basis from 2006.

The potential contract with Peugeot was cited as the struggling Mitsubishi announced it was seeking JPY 540 billion (EUR 4 billion, USD 5.2 billion) in fresh capital and warned of further losses.

The Japanese company said it had used up nearly JPY 500 billion (EUR 3.7 million) in a previous rescue package to pay off debt.

The company has suffered a sharp sales fall owing to a series of problems over defects in vehicles.

Mitsubishi, the fourth-biggest Japanese carmaker also issued a further profit warning, forecasting a deeper net loss of JPY 472 billion (EUR 3.5 million) for the year to March 2005, compared with the JPY 240 billion (EUR 1.7 million) net loss projected earlier.

A tie-up with Peugeot would follow an already announced deal for Mitsubishi to supply 36,000 mini-vehicles annually on an OEM basis to Nissan, the second-largest car maker in Japan which is 44.4-percent owned by Renault of France.

Investors welcomed news that Peugeot has moved into advanced tie-up talks with Mitsubishi. Shares in Peugeot rose 1.26 percent to EUR 47.28 in midday Paris trading, while the CAC-40 index was up 0.29 points at 3,891.69 points.

Just last week Peugeot's Folz said that Peugeot had "no 4x4 development project, except to find a partner", noting that the development of a SUV model did not seem profitable in Europe at the moment.

"It's true, we're in talks with Mitsubishi as with other groups," Folz said at a news conference with the AJEF association of French economic and business journalists.

He said he did not know when the talks would be concluded and did not plan to disclose the nature of the discussions unless they led to an agreement.

Declining to specify the subjects discussed with Japan's fourth-largest car maker, Folz said: "It's not necessarily 4x4s. There are a lot of other things that Mitsubishi has and that we don't have."


http://www.expatica.com/source/site_...+new+4WD+model

 

any pics?

 

PSA PEUGEOT CITROEN, MITSUBISHI PLAN FOUR-WHEEL-DRIVE VENTURE
Initially posted Friday, 4 February 2005 12:10:00 GMT
PARIS, Feb 4 (AFP) - French PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. of Japan signed on Friday a partnership plan to make a four-wheel-drive vehicle in Japan for sale in Europe.
PSA chief executive Jean-Martin Folz, long opposed to such vehicles, signed in Japan a letter of intent to work in partnership with Mitsubishi Motors to launch a four-wheel-drive vehicle in 2007.
Under the agreement, to be finalised in the next few months, 30,000 of the sports utility vehicle (SUV) models would be produced in Japan but the output would be aimed mainly at the European market.
The vehicles would have styling that was specific to each of the PSA brands, Peugeot and Citroen, and would be based on a Mitsubishi vehicle platform which was under development.
"To begin with, this project will target European markets but the two groups are also considering the possibility of supplying other markets and expanding their partnership," the companies said in a joint statement received here.
The new vehicle -- designed to expand both Peugeot and Citroen brand offerings in Europe -- would be equipped with Peugeot's HDi diesel engines and particulate filter.
"For Mitsubishi Motors, the additional volume will enable the company to raise capacity utilisation rates and to improve productivity," the statement said.
For Mitsubishi, which is in difficulties, the agreement would increase the rate at which its industrial facilities were being used and would increase productivity.
Peugeot's arch-rival Renault has seen a rivival in its fortunes since it forged a partnership in 1999 with another Japanese carmaker, Nissan. The two companies have since built up an important cross-shareholding.
However, a Peugeot spokeswoman ruled out any chance it would seek a similar path with Mitsubishi Motors and had no plans to take a stake in the Japanese company.
"We can absolutely rule out any capital interest with Mitsubishi or other partners," a Peugeot spokeswoman said.
She said that the company was happy with its stated strategy of pursuing organic growth augmented by partnerships with other manufacturers, including Toyota, BMW and Mitsubishi Motors.
She also said that alongside the memorandum of understanding signed with the Japanese carmaker, the two companies were considering a deal to use Peugeot's HDi diesel engines for new Mitsubishi vehicles.
"It's one of the themes of the discussion," she said, adding that there is currently "no idea at all" of the volumes or value covered by any possible agreement.


http://www.ttc.org/cgi-binloc/search...splayZop+22394

 

haha...i clicked on this forum...and ther was only 1 thing.."mitsubishi getting back on track?"...accidently hit backsapce and came back...WHOA...thats a lot of writing...lol...ok imma go read

 

Peugeot deal boosts Mitsubishi
Peugeot's CEO Jean-Martin Folz (left) and Mitsubishi's CEO Takashi Nishioka.
Mitsubishi Motors bosses have not had much to smile about lately
Struggling Japanese car maker Mitsubishi Motors has struck a deal to supply French car maker Peugeot with 30,000 sports utility vehicles (SUV).

The two firms signed a Memorandum of Understanding, and say they expect to seal a final agreement by Spring 2005.

The alliance comes as a badly-needed boost for loss-making Mitsubishi, after several profit warnings and poor sales. The SUVs will be built in Japan using Peugeot's diesel engines and sold mainly in the European market.

Falling sales have left Mitsubishi Motors with underused capacity, and the production deal with Peugeot gives it a chance to utilise some of it.

Multiple problems

In January, Mitsubishi Motors issued its third profits warning in nine months, and cut its sales forecasts for the year to March 2005.

Its sales have slid 41% in the past year, catalysed by the revelation that the company had systematically been hiding records of faults and then secretly repairing vehicles.

As a result, the Japanese car maker has sought a series of financial bailouts.

Last month it said it was looking for a further 540bn yen ($5.2bn; £2.77bn) in fresh financial backing, half of it from other companies in the Mitsubishi group. US-German carmaker DaimlerChrylser, a 30% shareholder in Mitsubishi Motors, decided in April 2004 not to pump in any more money.

The deal with Peugeot was celebrated by Mitsubishi's newly-appointed chief executive Takashi Nishioka, who took over after three top bosses stood down last month to shoulder responsibility for the firm's troubles.

Mitsubishi Motors has forecast a net loss of 472bn yen in its current financial year to March 2005.

Last month, it signed a production agreement with Japanese rival Nissan Motor to supply it with 36,000 small cars for sale in Japan. It has been making cars for Nissan since 2003.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4235537.stm

 

Mitsubishi in SUV Agreement With Peugot

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

February 4, 2005, 7:27 AM EST

TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Motors Corp. announced an agreement on Friday to supply 30,000 sport utility vehicles a year to the French automaker PSA Peugeot Citroen, in a small victory for the struggling, scandal-tarnished Japanese automaker.

Mitsubishi Motors had promised a deal with Peugeot in recent weeks as it scrambled to fight nose-diving sales and mounting expenses after DaimlerChrysler AG decided last year to halt all additional financing.

The terms of the deal with Peugeot were not disclosed. It calls for Mitsubishi Motors to supply the SUVs, which will go on sale in Europe starting in 2007, with Peugeot's diesel engines, a Mitsubishi Motors official said. A preliminary agreement has been signed and a final deal is expected within several months, she said.

Last month, Mitsubishi Motors said it is receiving a fresh cash infusion of 270 billion yen ($2.6 billion) from its affiliated companies, as well as additional borrowing of more than 200 billion yen ($1.9 billion) -- barely eight months after an earlier massive bailout of nearly 500 billion yen ($4.8 billion) from group companies and other investors.

The automaker's three top executives have resigned to take responsibility for last year's failed revival effort, although they were in office barely a year.

The Mitsubishi group, which includes a machinery maker, a major bank and a trading company, raised its stake in Mitsubishi Motors to a combined 34 percent from about 15 percent with the latest cash infusion.

But Mitsubishi Motors is forecasting a massive loss of 472 billion yen ($4.5 billion) -- almost twice as much as it estimated last November -- for the fiscal year ending March 31. It expects to remain in the red in the following fiscal year and doesn't expect to return to profitability until the year ending in March 2007.

On Friday, international ratings agency Fitch lowered its outlook for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., the main Mitsubishi group company, to negative from stable, citing worries about its commitment of money and management resources to help the automaker.

Fitch Ratings noted that Mitsubishi Heavy Chairman Takashi Nishioka will be doubling as Mitsubishi Motors chairman at a time when Mitsubishi Heavy is facing its own challenges. The closer ties with Mitsubishi Motors "reflect a higher level of risk tolerance than previously envisaged," it said in a statement.

Four years ago, Mitsubishi Motors acknowledged it had been systematically hiding auto defects for more than 20 years. Cover-ups resurfaced last year, although it had promised to come clean in 2000.

In the last decade, the automaker also faced a sexual harassment lawsuit at its U.S. plant in Illinois, and the arrests of executives in Japan on charges of paying off racketeers with ties to gangsters.

Sales of Mitsubishi vehicles in Japan have plunged in recent years, dropping 41.5 percent in 2004 from the previous year. Sales have also been hurt in North America, where the automaker suffered deep losses for extending excessive credit.

In addition to the deal with Peugeot, Mitsubishi Motors has also said it will produce tiny cars for Nissan to be sold under the Nissan brand.



http://www.newsday.com/business/nati...ness-headlines

 

kool...mitsu is gettin bak on the track

 

hopefully back on track... although this smells a lil like other companies bailing mitsu out and puttin' them to work on something they're semi good at.