According to a report carried by the Nikkei business daily, Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors Corp is planning to streamline production in developed nations while increasing output in emerging markets such as Brazil and India under a new global strategy. The automaker is keen on quickly lifting global production to 1.5 million units by redistributing business resources, up 50 per cent from fiscal 2009, the Nikkei paper said.

Under the strategy, Mitsubishi Motors plans to spend an estimated 20-30 billion yen, about $241.5 million, to obtain a stake of at least 50 per cent in MMC Automotores do Brasil SA, a firm that currently handles its production in Brazil, the Nikkei indicated. The Brazilian firm's plants will be expanded in fiscal 2011, with annual production capacity of four-wheel-drive vehicles and other cars to be doubled to at least 100,000 units, said the report.

The automaker, which plans to launch output in India, is considering taking a stake in a firm to which it outsources production, the paper reported. Mitsubishi is also exploring a joint venture in India with France's PSA Peugeot Citroen SA, the business daily said. Mitsubishi Motors also aims to manufacture low-priced vehicles based on minicars jointly developed with Nissan Motor Co, the Nikkei said.

The strategy will however see the Japanese auto maker end production of vehicles tailored to the local market in Europe and the U.S., the Nikkei said.  Mitsubishi Motors Corporation is the sixth largest automaker in Japan and the seventeenth largest in the world by global vehicle production.  It is part of the Mitsubishi keiretsu, formerly the biggest industrial group in Japan, and was formed in 1970 from the automotive division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The company has its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo.

The firm has 7 car manufacturing facilities in 5 countries (including consolidated subsidiaries) plus 11 business partners' car manufacturing facilities in 9 countries and regions. It also has 8 engine, transmission and parts manufacturing facilities in 5 countries (including consolidated subsidiaries and business partners). Mitsubishi has a number of affiliate firms that it undertakes joint business with in Japan and globally.

For its US operations, Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. is the North American operation of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, overseeing sales, manufacturing, finance, and research and development functions. The company manufactures and sells Mitsubishi brand cars and sport utility vehicles through a network of almost 700 dealers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

18 Jan 2011.