Suped-Up-Cars.com -

12/09/04
Mitsubishi Dieing Brand?
Sales in November at struggling automaker Mitsubishi Motor Sales were almost halved from last year. The company lost its top marketing executive. And it increasingly looks like the company is on the same brand of slide that has claimed Isuzu, Peugeot, and Fiat before it.

Last week, Mitsubishi's top marketing executive Ian Beavis resigned after about one year in the job. Beavis, recruited by Mitsubishi chief Finbarr O'Neill, had been antagonizing dealers, according to some familiar with the situation, and had Hyundai marketing executive Bob Martin foisted on him by O'Neill as head of brand marketing. Just after Martin's hiring, Beavis resigned.

"The situation at Mitsubishi is deteriorating so fast that Beavis couldn't see the point of staying on, and who could blame him," said one executive familiar with the situation.

Keeping dealers at the table is vital to any chance O'Neill has to turn the situation around, and Martin, who worked with O'Neill at Hyundai, is much better, in O'Neill's eyes, at motivating dealers than Beavis has been. A search for a successor to Beavis is underway.

Besides November's big sales dip from last year, Mitsubishi sales are down 37 percent year-to-date through November.

Japan's Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group recently pledged continued support for Mitsubishi Motors Corp. amid reports the ailing carmaker could receive $974 million in fresh aid. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group and other Mitsubishi group companies are considering the new financial support for Mitsubishi Motor Corp., the Japanese press has reported. That package would add to $4.5 billion provided to back a restructuring plan this year.

Mitsubishi is the only unprofitable Japanese automaker. And the Japanese government seems unwilling to let the auto company go out of business and take tens of thousands of jobs with it, even though the market would hardly miss the ailing brand.

An executive who has worked with Mitsubishi on its marketing problems said, "I can't find a single bright spot in terms of this company selling vehicles on anything but price and discount, and even that is getting difficult because of the lack of credibility surrounding the brand."