Mitsubishi to close Adelaide plant
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Mitsubishi Motors announced today at 2:30pm that the Tonsley Park factory will close this year, on March 31st. The announcement confirmed speculation of the closure after the sales of the 380 model failed to reach expectations.
Almost 1000 people will be directly affected by the closure and the follow-on effect will no doubt increase this number of job losses. “We kind of expected it, but it’s come sooner than what we thought”, one worker said.
AMWU state secretary John Camillo said Mitsubishi Australia President Rob McEniry told workers at the meeting today that all redundancy and leave entitlements would be paid out. The workers have been told to take the rest of the week off with full pay and return to work on Monday.
The Japanese car maker’s decision ends the decade-long saga over Mitsubishi’s future in Australia and comes after the closure of the company’s engine plant in Lonsdale in 2005.
It also follows a series of assistance packages offered by successive state and federal governments to maintain the car maker’s local operations. Mr Camillo said the decision to close the plant was a major blow to both the car industry and manufacturing in South Australia.
The reason given for the closure was that although Mitsubishi Australia would meet it’s overall profit targets, the Adelaide-made 380 model was failing to attract buyers. In 2007 Mitsubishi recorded a 20 per cent increase in sales to 65,397 vehicles. However the increase was built on imported models with the 380 only selling 10,492 units, a drop of 11.9 per cent compared to 2006.
VFACTS figures released this morning show the plant sold just 692 of it’s 380 model last month - a mere 6 per cent of the market for Australian made cars. Media reports state that three unnamed Mitsubishi officials have said that production will be moved from the Lonsdale plant to China and Russia.
A sad, sad day not only for the workers but for the Australian manufacturing industry as a whole.
