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2
FIRST MAJOR STEP FORWARD IN THE GREATEST CHALLENGE
Fiscal 2003, ended March 31, 2004, was a tumultuous year for Mitsubishi Motors. Consolidated net sales fell 35.1% to
¥2,519.4 billion compared with the previous fiscal year. Excluding the spin-off of the truck and bus business in fiscal
2002, which adversely affected net sales by ¥715.3 billion, and the change in accounting periods of overseas consolidat-
ed subsidiaries, which adversely affected net sales by ¥433.4 billion, consolidated net sales would still have declined
7.9%. In addition, the Company recorded significant operating losses on sales financing operations in North America.
After DaimlerChrysler announced the cessation of financial support toward the end of April 2004, Mr. Rolf
Eckrodt resigned from his position as President and CEO and I took over as the new helmsman of Mitsubishi Motors.
On May 21, about one month after my appointment, we announced the Business Revitalization Plan and reformed the
management organization. A detailed investigation of our handling of past recalls revealed that post-market measures
put in place in 2000 were inadequate, and we announced these findings on June 2, 2004. Since then, my two highest
priorities have been to restore the public’s trust in Mitsubishi Motors and to resuscitate corporate management.
The urgent issue of raising capital in light of our substantial operating losses was resolved from late June to mid-
July with the purchase of preferred stocks by Mitsubishi Group companies, China Motor Corporation, a major
business partner in Asia, and J.P. Morgan, as well as the purchase of common stocks by Phoenix Capital. These
arrangements allowed Mitsubishi Motors to procure ¥496.0 billion in capital, more than the ¥450 billion needed for
the Business Revitalization Plan. The Company plans to allocate these funds to achieve revitalization targets and to
reduce interest-bearing debt more than 40% by fiscal 2006 compared with fiscal 2003 levels.
On June 29, we officially welcomed to our management team Mr. Hideyasu Tagaya as President and Chief
Operating Officer in charge of overall operations, Mr. Koji Furukawa as Chief Business Ethics Officer in charge of
compliance, public relations, investor relations and auditing, as well as Mr. Yasushi Ando as the head of the
Revitalization Committee for advice on achieving business revitalization targets from an investor’s point of view. These
TO OUR STOCKHOLDERS AND STAKEHOLDERS
Backed by a new management team committed to
the revitalization of Mitsubishi Motors, we have
taken the first major step forward in the greatest
challenge Mitsubishi Motors has ever faced.
YOICHIRO OKAZAKI
Chairman and CEO