200 Jobs Lost

Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. cuts some 200 white-collar jobs under pressure from plummeting sales and poor financial performance.

Greg O'Neill, president and chief operating officer at MMNA, resigned as part of the reorganization.

Some 75% of the eliminated positions were in the sales department at MMNA's North American headquarters in Cypress, CA. Other cuts came from the credit division and some field offices.

At the helm of the restructuring is co-Chairman and CEO Finbarr O'Neill, who in September left Hyundai Motor America's top post for the position previously held by Pierre Gagnon. Gagnon resigned amid fallout for Mitsubishi's flagging U.S. performance and major strategic missteps related to its credit arm's lending practices.

The layoffs, considered permanent, are part of Finbarr O'Neill's plan for a flatter, leaner organization.

After a few successful years, Mitsubishi's performance as of late has been nothing less than disastrous. Sales of 16,995 units in November represent a 38.9% decline from year-ago. Year-to-date, sales of 239,003 are down 24% over same-period 2002.