Mitsubishi shuts Australian factory

The last Australian built Mitsubishi has rolled off its production line at the carmaker’s Tonsley Park site in Adelaide today, one month after officials first announced the closure of the plant. Mitsubishi first started building cars in Adelaide back in 1980 after acquiring the plant from Chrysler, but poor sales of the current 380 sedan (essentially a rebadged Galant) led to decision end production.

Up to 930 employees will lose their job and the 380 will be discontinued from Mitsubishi’s local lineup. Officials made several major blunders when launching the new 380 back in 2005. The biggest mistake was dropping the longstanding ‘Magna’ nameplate, which officials deemed had a boring image. Also, the 380 which replaced the previous Magna sedan was too dull when compared directly with rival RWD sedans from Holden and Ford. This also meant that the cars depreciated much more rapidly than its rivals and led to its sales demise.

Mitsubishi built its last 380 sedan yesterday, allowing for the bulk of the assembly staff to leave on Friday. About 430 workers will stay on for up to 12 months, some to decommission the plant and others to produce a stockpile of spare parts to last the next 10 years.

Mitsubishi has confirmed it will remain in Australia as an importer but there are no plans in place to revive local production anytime soon.