Mitsubishi 2002 Annual Report Download - page 12

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10
QUESTION What progress is being made through alliances in the car business?
ANSWER
The overall purpose of our alliance with DC is to make us one of the world’s leading automotive groups,
ensuring that we continue to prosper within the industry. Based on the fundamental rules that we maintain an
“open-book” policy between the partners, and that we strive to make alliance projects win-win in nature, we
are pursuing a number of opportunities with DC.
Another key point is that, although we are striving to boost the degree of commonality in the cars we
develop together, there is no question of merging brands. The agreed policy is to keep the MMC brand fully
independent. Our objective is to differentiate models for the needs of local business units in different markets
so that we avoid any sales cannibalization.
In terms of benefits at this stage, they break down simply into three areas. First, through joint develop-
ment, we can both get more from our capital investment budgets. Second, platform sharing and the use of
common components and modules can generate huge cost savings. Third, we gain access to the latest
technology and production techniques. This will allow us to introduce them ahead of the competition.
We have several alliance projects underway. We divide the various joint development projects by vehicle
segment. In the B segment, which includes compact sedans, we are jointly developing a number of models
to be manufactured by ourselves and by NedCar in the Netherlands. The Japanese version of this car, to be
named “
COLT,
” will appear in late-2002, and the European version is due for launch in 2004. The engines
will be made at a plant in Germany.