article from autonews.com (subscriber only, so this is literally hot off the press):

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DaimlerChrysler to quit Mitsubishi

Reuters / April 22, 2004


STUTTGART, Germany -- DaimlerChrysler AG said on Thursday it was pulling out of Mitsubishi Motors, leaving its bid to become a global carmaker in disarray and throwing the future of the ailing Japanese firm into doubt.

The group said that it had decided not to participate in a rescue capital increase planned by Mitsubishi Motors Corp. because it could not agree on an acceptable deal with other shareholders in the loss-making company.

It also said it would not provide any further financial support to Mitsubishi, Japan's only unprofitable carmaker.

"This clearly means separation," a DaimlerChrysler spokesman said, adding that the 37 percent stake would be booked as discontinued business until a buyer could be found.

Mitsubishi representatives could not immediately be reached for comment.

The decision came after an extraordinary meeting of the DaimlerChrysler supervisory and management boards on Thursday.

Supervisory board sources said earlier that the company had discussed selling its 10 percent stake in South Korea's largest carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd., worth about 850 million euros ($1 billion), to help fund the Mitsubishi rescue.

Mitsubishi, Japan's fourth largest and only unprofitable carmaker, had been planning to present details of a 700 billion yen ($6.39 billion) bailout to shareholders on April 30.

Reeling from losses generated by a disastrous strategy of offering cheap car loans in the U.S., Mitsubishi is expecting a net loss of 72 billion yen for the 12 months to March 31. It had a profit of 37.36 billion yen the previous year.

Mitsubishi Motors' net automotive debt stood at around 726 billion yen six months ago, while total interest-bearing debt was 1.141 trillion.

"This could be the end for Mitsubishi if nobody else injects fresh capital," said one industry source.

DaimlerChrysler bought the stake in Mitsubishi over three years ago with a view to expanding its presence in Asia. It has since worked to establish closer production ties between the Japanese firm and its other problem child, U.S. automaker Chrysler, to cut costs.

 

discuss.

 

Ummm, I'll miss the EVO, other than that I could care less if they vanish.

 

yep

 

agree, evo was their only good car i liked.

 

I really think they missed the mark on the latest Galant. There was a time that car was mentioned in the same breathe as BMW.

 

For a long time, their cars are have been blah, funky looking, or just not up to par. I liked the old Eclipses but the current one looks like it was designed by Pontiac. On the other hand, that Eclipse show car is really nice. Mazda and Nissan were recently in bad shape but made the turnaround. That'd be a shame to see them go.

 

Hmm... not shocking, I just didn't think they would pull out so soon. I really thought they were making a turn around, with all the new mitsu's around here.

 

I guess I am glad I didn't go with an EVO.

 

Can we buy EVO's for cheap now?? :D

 

I agree this probably signals the end of Mitsubishi Motors, but Mitsubishi is a HUGE, diverse company.

I won't be sad to see Mitsubishi Motors go; they've had nothing interesting since the previous generation Eclipse was replaced with the current one (I like Paulie's comment that it looks like it was "designed by Pontiac")!

 

I never liked Mitsubishis....the Evo is interesting, and the Montero, but I could care less if they went out of business....

 

Grab a beer and celebrate!

They have the most horrible designs ever (except for older Eclipse generation, which was a fluke for them). I think Hyundai scavenges their designers when Mitsu is through with them. They should stick to creating parts coz that's where they're good at (i think).

 

Mitsu's I will miss...
Starion Turbo
3000gt vr-4 (wish they would have made another car like this but better looking)
EVO 8

I don't think mitsu will go away. Someone has the money and vision to buy them up and turn them around. They have a great flagship in the EVO, they simply need to become profitable in the midsize, compact, and suv markets.

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!







sorry... that's pretty funny because in this automotive market, that is the hardest task anyone can accomplish. Sadly, like most have already said, Mitsu Motors probably won't be missed by most people. The fact that such a huge company could go under and leave no void in the market is a pretty good sign that Mitsu is unnecessary to exist.

 

Exactly...good riddance

 

Good! My sister bought a Diamante to replace her Legend. Shortly after her warranty ran out she started to have problems with the tranny. After many trys, two trannys, and over a month without her car they just said we don't know what else to do. Refunded her the money she spent on the tranny work and left her with a car she couldn't drive. I hope they burn in hell. Other transmission shops didn't want to work on the car. Said they had enough problems with the Diamante before.

 

Mitsubishi went down hill the minute they came out with that new Eclipse. I'll miss the:

Evo's
FTO
Eclipse GS-T
3000GT

 

I'm not saying that they don't make fun to drive or great performaning cars....I'm just saying that they are pieces of junk...a lot of people can accept that in a high performance car, but not in an everyday grocery getter....

 

mitsu made the ZERO, which bombed pearl harbor, but volkswagon made tank/ weapons parts too. those bastards, i'll be happy to see mitsu go, i'll only miss the last gen. eclipse gsx.

BTW
Navilesrx8... did you buy a new rx every 6 months from 84-87?
hope they were for good reasons not bad mechanical ones...

 

will Hyn place his bid on Mitsu? on the other hand, the subaru is doing pretty well IMO. the new legacy is really cool; it has a detuned STi engine for 25k(invoice price). can do 0~60 within 6 secs.

 

Nope...I got my License in 97...all those RX's were just a bunch of project cars I never finished..haha

 

I wonder how many of the Mitzu's you are seeing were purchased during the doomed plan of 12/24 months no payment plan..Imagine the woes now when the buyer wants to trade the car after 2 yrs and hasn't even made a payment yet.

Around the first of the year the Automotive News reported the Mitzu motors fianance Corp had a 60% repo rate.

From what I hear now the corporation is paying the dealers extra money to find any other bank to carry the notes on new car sales.

 

Granted Mitsu made the Zero, but please don't come with that crap unless you want to condemn everyone from Hugo Boss to BMW to Mercedes, etc. Almost all industry in ALL the warring nations of WW2 retooled to support their respective war efforts. It would be much more valid to give those companies (in the Axis countries) hell for using slave labor (I.G. Farben, etc) from concentration camps and making a helluva a lot of money doing it.

 

The 3000GT VR-4 was the only car Mitsubishi made that was worth anything... The 98 was my Favorite the 99 was ruined with that Formula 1 Wing..