Mitsubishi Motors' Annual Loss Doubles

Tokyo May 23, 2005; Naoko Fujimura writing for Bloomberg reported that Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Japan's fifth-largest carmaker by unit sales, said its annual loss more than doubled to a record as sales dropped every month.

The company's loss increased to 474.8 billion yen ($4.4 billion) in the year ended March, from a loss of 215.4 billion yen, in the previous year, the Tokyo-based automaker said today. Sales slumped 16 percent to 2.12 trillion yen from 2.52 trillion yen. The company had forecast a loss of 472 billion yen on sales of 2.04 trillion yen.

President Osamu Masuko, appointed since Mitsubishi Motors' $5.2 billion financial bailout in January, has been trying to repair the carmaker's reputation, develop new models and improve sales. The company, which makes the Pajero sports-utility vehicle, plans to release three models in the next 12 months in the U.S., the world's largest car market, where its sales fell 53 percent.

``Mitsubishi Motors must develop a new attractive model to clean up its scandalous image,'' said Makoto Kikuchi, chief investment officer at Tokyo-based Myojo Asset Management Japan Co. which includes auto-parts makers' shares. ``It will take a long time for consumers to forget about Mitsubishi Motors' unethical actions in the past.''

The company expects a loss in the current fiscal year of 64 billion yen on sales of 2.22 trillion yen.

The company's image was damaged after admitting twice in the past five years that it hid defects.