AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)08/08 Report--

Mitsubishi Motors Chairman Osamu Masuko resigned for health reasons after 15 years in office, and CEO Taoka Kato will temporarily replace Masuko as chairman from Friday, foreign media reported.

According to the data, Masuko began to become president of Mitsubishi Motors in 2005 and began to lead the Japanese brand. Unlike other executives, Masuko joined Mitsubishi late in his career and ended up leading the Japanese car company, even serving as a firefighter several times.

In 2016, Mitsubishi was exposed to fuel economy fraud scandal, sales and stock prices fell sharply, then Mitsubishi Motor President Tetsuro Aikawa resigned for the "fuel consumption door" incident, his position will be temporarily held by Mitsubishi Motor Corporation CEO Yoshiko Xiu, the task of revitalizing Mitsubishi brand handed over to Yoshiko Xiu. In October 2016, Nissan completed the acquisition of 34% of Mitsubishi shares, Nissan became its largest single shareholder, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance was born.

In November 2018, Carlos Ghosn was arrested on suspicion of underreporting his remuneration, in violation of the Financial Commodity Exchange Act. Subsequently, Mitsubishi Motors announced that its board of directors removed Ghosn as chairman and that Yoshiko Xiu, then CEO, would temporarily serve as chairman. In June 2019, Yizi Xiu resigned as Mitsubishi CEO and formally succeeded Ghosn as Mitsubishi Motors Chairman.

Ghosn's arrest led to turbulence in relations between Reynolds-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, and sales of all three companies fell sharply. In addition to Ghosn, former Nissan CEO Hiroto Nishikawa and former Renault CEO Thierry Bolloré also left last year.

Despite a new strategy unveiled by the alliance in May, the three automakers are still struggling to cope with the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, with unprecedented losses in fiscal 2020, raising concerns about the future relationship between the three companies.

Last week, Mitsubishi Motors forecast a loss of 140 billion yen (9.3 billion yuan) by the fiscal year ending March 2021. It was Mitsubishi's biggest loss in 18 years since its record began in 2002.

Mitsubishi Motors plans to cut fixed expenses by 20% over two years by reducing the number of employees and closing unprofitable car dealerships. And production will also stop for undersold models, with Mitsubishi planning to stop Pajero models in 2021 and close its manufacturing plant in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.

In addition, Mitsubishi will also reduce its business scale in Europe and North America, focusing on the Asian market. At present, Southeast Asia market is Mitsubishi's largest market, but the market situation including China and Southeast Asia is not optimistic, Mitsubishi's sales volume in Asia also continues to decline.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat