Mitsubishi And PSA Getting Tighter And Tighter
Mitsubishi Motors and PSA sure don’t waste any time. Hours after the news of their impending nuptials were announced, the happy couple retreated to a love hotel in the Kabuki-cho district of Shinjuku and hatched further plans on top of their planned capital tie-up.
For instance, Peugeot could share its diesel engine/electric motor hybrid technology with Mitsubishi. The diesel hybrid is scheduled for 2011. In return, Mitsubishi Motors could help Peugeot develop a gasoline-engine hybrid, or co-develop a plug-in with the French beau.
According to the plans, Mitsubishi Motors will supply more models to Peugeot. On top of the Outlander SUV that Mitsubishi supplies to Peugeot under an OEM agreement, Mitsubishi will supply another SUV to the French partner, most likely the RVR subcompact SUV, slated for release next year.
Further on the long to-do-list of the energetic couple is co-developing an all-new SUV, as well as jointly cultivating India and other emerging markets. Combining buying power to procure parts and sharing vehicle platforms are next on the list, as well as reorganizing production operations.
If that sounds like a merger to you, it is. According to the Nikkei, “Mitsubishi Motors and Peugeot are in the final stages of negotiations toward a capital tie-up. The outcome is likely to see Peugeot obtain a 30-50% stake to become Mitsubishi Motors’ top shareholder.”
The French-Japanese marriage is very popular in Japan. The Tokyo stock exchange feted the impending marriage by sending the Mitsubishi Motors’ stock 13 percent higher to 135 yen.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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I was wondering whether Volkswagen has some kind of fetish for the letter S. They bought Spanish SEAT some while back, followed by Czech Skoda. Now Suzuki? I'm surprised they didn't want to buy up Saturn, and Subaru, too. Must have been different management back in the 1960's, because, I understand that anyone with $7 million could have bought Studebaker's Canadian operations in 1965 and that a Canadian business consortium would have done so, and later went on to assemble Toyota and Isuzu vehicles in Canada, for Canada (for awhile, anyway).
Nice attire! I admire a woman who is willing to be daring with the color red... Note to the Editorial Board with regards to the photo selections: Thank you for the recent .. er, "style" improvements. I just realized that I have adopted a new habit. I ALWAYS look at old headlines now. Yeah, for the pictures! But along the way, I see (and read) more articles and ads than I used to, even though I may not have any comments on the subject matter for a given article. I guess I'm a sucker for a pretty smile. Go figure! Maybe I'm not the only one...