DaimlerChrysler has picked Smart GmbH minicar unit president Andreas Renschler to lead a 500 billion yen ($US4.8 billion) reorganisation of Mitsubishi Motors Corp, according to Bloomberg News.
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Renschler, 45, will reportedly replace Rolf Eckrodt, 61, as president and CEO of Japan’s only unprofitable automaker at a June shareholders’ meeting.
Mitsubishi Motors will reportedly use the funds to develop new models and improve its brand image to compete with larger rivals after sales slumped in the United States and Japan, its two biggest markets. The company also plans to shut down a factory in Australia, the Bloomberg News report said.
According to the report, Renschler estimated the plan’s cost on Friday during a meeting in Tokyo with executives including Ruediger Grube, DaimlerChrysler’s corporate strategy director, and Takashi Nishioka, chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., which owns 33.8% of Mitsubishi Motors.
DaimlerChrysler officials declined to comment to Bloomberg News – Renschler didn’t return phone calls to his office and Tokyo hotel, Eckrodt couldn’t be reached to comment and Grube had returned to DaimlerChrysler’s headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.
Bloomberg News said Eckrodt, who had been president since June 2002, took over as head of international businesses after Steve Torok quit last Friday and will retire after leaving Mitsubishi Motors.
