Mitsubishi Fuso Reorganizes Dealer Network, Announces New Customer Service Initiatives in Japan

Stuttgart/Kawasaki, Apr 14, 2007 Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation (MFTBC) today announced important new measures to increase its customer service capabilities in Japan. Effective August 1, the company will form a new, streamlined domestic sales and service organization for higher service quality, responsiveness and efficiency. In addition, the company will introduce weekend and evening service hours at various Japan locations, add mobile service trucks and strengthen the technical capability of service staff. The new initiatives take effect this year. “Mitsubishi Fuso is committed to providing comprehensive and readily available services to our customers,” said Masayuki Nagano, MFTBC vice president of domestic sales and service. “These new initiatives will strongly enhance our service capability in Japan, and drive us toward our goal of becoming #1 for our customers and ‘the most reliable company for all our stakeholders.”

Already in March 2006, MFTBC announced the legal integration of its 26 consolidated domestic dealerships. Now the dealerships and MFTBC headquarters staff will become functionally integrated as they come together to create a new, streamlined domestic sales & service organization. Within the new organization, the 26 domestic dealerships will be consolidated into 11 regional sales centers, but all physical sales and service locations will be maintained.

The new structure will bring numerous benefits, including closer ties to the market, better support for large customers with wide areas of operation, strengthened connections between headquarters and regional sales centers due to the simpler structure, quicker sharing of quality information and administrative efficiencies. The company’s 10 independent domestic dealerships will continue, and form an essential part of the overall Mitsubishi Fuso sales & service network in Japan. In addition to the new domestic sales & service organization, Mitsubishi Fuso announced a number of specific measures for enhanced customer service:

To increase convenience of service, Mitsubishi Fuso will add Saturday hours at all branches within the year. Already, Saturday service has been available at many locations, but now it will be fully available across Japan. Also, the company will begin to roll out night service and Sunday service at key locations next to main highways.

For enhanced mobile service, Mitsubishi Fuso will add fully-equipped mobile maintenance vehicles at 60 branches, in addition to the current 94 that already have them. The vehicles, nicknamed “Moving Pit,” are light-duty Canter vehicles outfitted with various maintenance tools, air compressors, oil changing equipment, gas welding equipment and garage jacks. They travel out from their home branch to handle a wide variety of emergency service needs for customers.

In addition, Mitsubishi Fuso will take further steps to improve the skills and knowledge of service staff in Japan. For example, the company intends to increase by 70% the amount of service staff achieving its highest technical certification, which means they are capable of handling the most complex repairs. An approximately two-fold increase in number of service staff holding the second highest technical certification is also planned. The goal is an overall upgrading of service personnel skill levels throughout Japan.

Based in Kawasaki, Japan, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation (MFTBC) is one of Asia’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturers. In 2006, the company sold a total of 186,600 vehicles including light-, medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses.

DaimlerChrysler AG owns 85% of MFTBC shares. The remaining 15% of shares are held by various Mitsubishi group companies. MFTBC is an integral part of DaimlerChrysler’s Truck Group.