Mitsubishi Motors reshuffles R&D, production bases

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will reorganize and scale down its research and development (R&D) subsidiaries in the U.S. and Europe, laying off 80 locally hired staffers and consolidating R&D efforts into two offices in Japan. By the end of June, Mitsubishi Motors R&D of America Inc. will shut down its design studio, letting 60 designers go, while Mitsubishi Motor R&D Europe GmbH in Germany will dismiss 20 designers. The design and development work done by the two subsidiaries will be transferred to the automaker’s design studio in Tokyo and a technical center in Aichi Prefecture. However, the company said it might shift part of its Japanese car manufacturing operations to Brazil, in order to cut labor costs and create an export base for Latin America. (February 26/ March 13, 2009)