Mitsubishi Vehicle Production

Origins:

Small boat company (1870), Group founded in 1911 (shipbuilding, banking, coal mines, trade, insurance), car manufacture started in 1917, Diesel bus production in 1935, Diesel trucks in 1936, Mitsubishi 500 built in 1960, First mass-production model: Mitsubishi 500 (1960). The Model A of 1917 is regarded as the first series-production car to be made in Japan.

Milestones:

First model exported to Europe: 500 (1962).
First model exported to USA: Debonair and Galant (1970)
Model most sold abroad: Mitsubishi Galant - 120,885 units exported (1979).
Number of employees (as at 1979): 22,000.
Position among Japanese Manufacturers (as at 1979): 5th (8.6 per cent of home market).
Position among manufacturers/exporters (as at 1979): 5th (7.8 per cent).
Associates (as at 1979): 15 per cent of capital held by Chrysler, 85 per cent by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Mitsubishi imports Chrysler models into Japan. Chrysler imported Mitsubishi models into USA. Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsubishi Corporation held 99 per cent of Chrysler Australia.
Group products: Cars, vans, trucks, buses, tractors, light four-wheel drive vehicles, ship-yards, aeroplanes, petro-chemicals, spinning mills, cameras and optical instruments (Nikon], hi-fi, canning, shipping, insurance, glass products, trade, non-ferrous metals, nuclear energy, banking, electrical apparatus. In 1979 it was the largest economic and industrial group in Japan: 10 per cent of the working population was employed by it.
Range (as at 1979): Mitsubishi Galant (two models), Mitsubishi Galant Sigma (four models), Mitsubishi Celeste (two models), Mitsubishi Lancer (four models), Mitsubishi Colt (four models).

Mitsubishi Car Production 1960 - 1979
Year	Country	Production	Exportation
1960		5,203	11
1961		7,552	156
1962		8,396	236
1963		15,882	408
1964		29,497	1,196
1965		45,905	1,657
1966		75,643	1,393
1967		105,952	3,474
1968		130,253	4,944
1969		127,812	6,133
1970		246,422	15,450
1971		260,981	60,500
1972		222,890	52,950
1973		280,998	62,000
1974		233,121	114,900
1975		288,846	100,900
1976		402,844	217,050
1977		486,432	255,350
1978		628,886	320,850
1979		528,555	243,720