Mitsubishi Motors on Tuesday said it would ease production cuts at plants in Japan in March as it reviews its sharp inventory adjustments in recent months.
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Mitsubishi said it plans to operate its mainstay Nagoya plant in Aichi Prefecture, which manufactures the Colt small car, for 24 days in March as originally planned after idling it for six days in addition to the originally planned holidays in February, Kyodo News reported.
Pajero Manufacturing, Mitsubishi’s Gifu Prefecture-based unit manufacturing the Pajero [Shogun/Montero] sport utility vehicle, also plans to halve the number of holidays for its plant from 13 in February to six in March.
At the Mizushima plant in Okayama Prefecture, Mitsubishi will operate production lines for vehicles, excluding minivehicles with engine displacements of up to 660 cc, for 15 days in March against seven days in February. The number of days production lines for minivehicles will be left idle will also be reduced from five in February to two in March.
The slowdown in production cuts in March came after Mitsubishi sharply slashed February output in a bid to reduce its global production for fiscal 2008 ending 31 March by 330,000 vehicles from its initial plan set in April 2008.
Toyota also plans to reduce its inventories to adequate levels by the end of April and ramp up output from May.
Major Japanese automakers have rapidly slashed production to cope with weak sales amid the global economic crisis, but changes in such trends appear to be emerging, an industry analyst told Kyodo News.
