Mitsubishi Worldwide Prod Car/LCV By Nation : 2011-14

A lot rides on the Outlander's shoulders

The 19th largest car producer is very much a made in Asia brand. It used to share a plant in the Netherlands with Volvo but found going it alone too much and closed that. It also had a plant in common with Chrysler in the US but now that it tries to keep it going without a partner is again not cost effective, so the US plant is to go as well.

That will leave virtually all capacity in Asia. That isn't a disaster but will work against the company being a global success. There are benefits to having factories in a region that you want to be a big selling car maker. Countries such as Thailand will be an important part of the picture as an exporting hub.

However, Mitsubishi is a stand alone car maker and its hard to see where it goes from here. Maybe Asia/Pacific will be enough to keep it viable with marginal presence in other regions. Only 1.5% of all cars/LCVs made is challenging for profitability in this cash hungry, volume driven industry.

11	12	13	14	Nation	2011	2012	2013	2014	%
1	1	1	1	Japan	600,164	512,873	578,329	639,673	50.7
2	2	2	2	Thailand	209,003	356,750	357,627	323,273	25.6
3	7	5	3	China	109,463	21,527	61,891	75,564	6.0
7	6	3	4	USA	37,145	36,974	67,344	69,173	5.5
4	3	4	5	Indonesia	53,316	62,860	63,480	58,986	4.7
5	5	7	6	Taiwan	50,088	40,644	35,886	37,545	3.0
6	4	6	7	Brazil	37,350	40,950	39,090	26,730	2.1
9	9	8	8	Philippines	12,778	13,455	13,722	16,483	1.3
-	-	9	9	Russia			3,783	9,453	0.7
13	10	10	10	India	497	810	1,980	1,380	0.1
-	-	13	11	Venezuela			422	918	0.1
12	11	12	12	Vietnam	602	601	601	871	0.1
10	12	11	13	Tunisia	1,860	300	1,560	540	0.0
-	13	14	14	Bangladesh		176	162	536	0.0
8	8	-	-	Netherland	23,808	19,516
11	-	-	-	RSA	778
				Total	1,136,852	1,107,436	1,225,877	1,261,125	1.5

Data source: OICA.