Mitsubishi sells its Chinese plant to GAC which will produce there Aion models
- Mitsubishi Motors (a subsidiary of the Nissan group) sold its Chinese plant which was in a joint venture with the Chinese carmaker GAC (Guangzhou Automobile Group) after stopping its production in China in March 2023, due to low and declining sales. Mitsubishi created the joint venture with GAC in 2012, but the Japanese carmaker was never able to establish itself on the Chinese market. Mitsubishi had only sold 12,000 cars in China in 2023 compared to 144,000 in 2018. It was the carmaker GAC which took over entirely the Changsha (Hunan) plant due to the strong demand for Aion brand models, this brand of GAC group, being specialized in battery electric vehicles.
- Over the cumulative first 8 months of 2023, the Aion brand sold 300,000 vehicles in China, which augurs a sales volume of 450,000 units over the whole of 2023. With the contribution of the Changsha plant, the GAC group will be able to produce up to 600,000 cars per year from 2024, compared to 400,000 units today.
- Mitsubishi's story in China reflects the challenges facing Japanese automakers there, where they have fallen far behind in the country's auto industry's rapid transition to all-electric vehicles, leading to a steady decline of their market share.
- With the sale of its share in the former Chinese joint venture, Mitsubishi will invest 200 million euros in Ampère, the new Renault company specialized in battery electric vehicles. Mitsubishi will buy electric vehicles developed and produced by Ampère and sell them under its own brand, which will allow it to limit its development costs.