Mitsubishi Motors Corporation on Thursday confirmed it would continue building the European-market B-segment Colt model at its NedCar plant in the Netherlands regardless of the outcome of negotitations with DaimlerChrysler over the axing of the Smart Forfour also built there.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
“DaimlerChrysler and Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) will now proceed with negotiations over this cancellation,” an MMC statement said.
“Colt is Mitsubishi Motors´ number one seller in Europe and its different variants…have proved to be successful products since the original launch in May 2004, both with media and customers.
“During CY 2005, 72,305 Colts [were] sold in Europe. The target is of 80,000 sales for CY 2006, the first full year with all three body-styles available.”
The Smart shared some components with the Mitsubishi model.
There has been speculation that DaimlerChrysler would pay compensation to MMC for axing the Smart build deal, originally planned to last until 2010.
This year’s production was to have been about 40,000 units and Mitsubishi is expected to find another product for NedCar to compensate for the loss.
MMC has been reported as saying it would delay a new global production plan, originally due to be announced next week, to allow a new product to be found for the Dutch plant.
