MMC eyes tieup with other automakers

The newly appointed Mitsubishi Motors Corp. chairman and chief executive officer hinted Friday that the troubled automaker might seek a capital tieup with other automakers besides its biggest shareholder, DaimlerChrysler AG.

"We don't have any plan to seek a new partner at the moment. But that is possible in the future," Yoichiro Okazaki told a news conference in Tokyo.

Okazaki, a former managing director at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., was appointed president in the day's extraordinary shareholders' meeting, during which MMC came under fire.

Industry sources told Kyodo News that the Mitsubishi Group might ask the Toyota Motor Corp. group and other companies to help MMC find jobs for employees who will be axed as part of drastic restructuring measures. MMC denied taking such action.

Okazaki, 61, said he can cover for his lack of experience in the auto industry with management expertise. He vowed to turn MMC around.

"This is not a temporary appointment," he said. "It is my responsibility to carry out the (restructuring) plan."

Okazaki was supposed to only assume the chairmanship, but was made president after DaimlerChrysler made a surprise decision last week to halt further financial aid to MMC.

DaimlerChrysler was in final negotiations with MMC and Mitsubishi Group firms on an MMC rescue plan. DaimlerChrysler's withdrawal has thrown MMC into turmoil.

DaimlerChrysler, which owns a 37 percent stake in MMC, reportedly picked Andreas Renschler, president of its Smart minicar unit, to be chief executive officer of MMC, replacing Rolf Eckrodt to revive MMC. But the plan was scrapped. Rolf Eckrodt resigned Monday.

MMC and the Mitsubishi firms -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Mitsubishi Corp. and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi -- have set up a special task force of 40 people to draw up a new rescue package in May.

Although Okazaki refrained from giving details, he said the revival plan will have a different meaning from the programs drawn up with DaimlerChrysler.

"In the previous plan, with DaimlerChrysler taking the initiative, MMC was positioned as comprising one part of DaimlerChrysler's overall global strategies," he said. "But the plan currently under consideration is about what we will do for MMC, as a Japanese (car) manufacturer, to survive."

The shareholders' meeting approved the appointment of DaimlerChrysler AG board member Eckhard Cordes as an outside board member.

Shareholders shouted out in anger during the meeting.

"We are all concerned that this company might collapse," one investor said, adding MMC is accountable to the shareholders for what has gone wrong.

He criticized management for not learning from past experience after a series of recall scandals involving MMC and Mitsubishi Fuso Bus & Truck Corp.

In 2000, it was discovered that MMC had concealed customer complaints about vehicle faults that required recalls for almost 30 years. Mitsubishi Fuso meanwhile has been under fire for delaying the issuance of recalls of defective wheel hubs on large vehicles, responsible for one fatal accident in January 2002.

The meeting drew more than 50 percent more shareholders than a regular gathering in June.

While expressing concerns about the company's future, most shareholders were hopeful of a recovery.

"They said they will try their best, so I will wait and see how they make a recovery," Mitsuhiko Morita, an investor from Kanagawa Prefecture, told The Japan Times. He said he will not sell his shares.