Mitsubishi Moves On
The Age
Wednesday February 6, 2008
YESTERDAY'S news that the Japanese car giant Mitsubishi is to close its Adelaide manufacturing plant at the end of next month was hardly surprising. Its gloomy inevitability could be compared with a car running out of petrol: gradual loss of power and speed, and a full stop. The company's announcement, after discussion at a board meeting in Tokyo, will cost the jobs of 1000 workers at the Tonsley Park plant, as well as threatening several hundred jobs at car parts factories around Australia. It marks the end of 10 years of troubles affecting the company's Australian manufacturing operations. Three years ago, 700 workers lost their jobs when Mitsubishi closed its engine plant at Lonsdale, near Adelaide.
This is all highly regrettable. In truth, Mitsubishi has no one to blame but itself. In 2005, the company produced its first new Australian model in nine years, the 380 sedan, which it hoped would save its already struggling operations. Unfortunately higher petrol prices and the market's desire for smaller, more fuel-efficient cars worked against the 380 from the beginning. Last month, only 692 of the cars were sold, down from 1041 in the same period last year; the plant has gone from producing 59,000 cars 10 years ago to 10,774. The story might have been different had Mitsubishi anticipated the move towards more environmentally friendly cars and produced a rival to Toyota's Prius - a hybrid vehicle that largely has the market to itself - instead of an unwanted large-engined family vehicle.It must be hoped the Tonsley Park plant is kept going, perhaps by companies such as BMW, VW or Proton, and that the workers are usefully redeployed. On a wider basis, Mitsubishi's decision raises another challenge for the Rudd Government ahead of its release of a detailed policy on the car industry. It is important the Government reaffirms its intention to encourage research and production of environmentally friendly cars. This is common sense as well as a way of protecting jobs in a shrinking industry.
© 2008 The Age