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Automotive Industry and Mitsubishi

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Mitsubishi Group of Companies
(Mitsubishi motors)
The Mitsubishi Group of Companies is a Japanese conglomerate consisting of a range of autonomous business which shares the Mitsubishi brand, trademark and legacy. The Mitsubishi Company was first established as a shipping firm by Yataro Iwasaki in 1870. The Company bought into coal mining in 1881 by acquiring the Takashima mine and Hashima Island in 1890, using the production to fuel their extensive steamship fleet. They also diversified into shipbuilding, banking, insurance, warehousing and trade. Later diversification carried the organization into such sectors as paper, steel, glass, electric equipment, aircraft, oil, and real estate. As Mitsubishi built a broadly based …show more content…

Within three years its output was over 75,000 vehicles annually. Following the successful introduction of the first Gallant in 1969 and similar growth with its commercial vehicle division, it was decided that the company should create a single operation to focus on the automotive industry. Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) was formed on April 22, 1970 as a wholly owned subsidiary of MHI under the leadership of Tomio Kubo, a successful engineer from the aircraft division. The logo of three red diamonds was chosen by Yataro Iwasaki, the founder of Mitsubishi, as it was suggestive of the emblem of the Tosa Clan who first employed him, and because his own family crest was three rhombuses stacked atop each other. The name Mitsubishi is formed of mitsu ("three") and hishi (literally, "water chestnut", often used in Japanese to denote a diamond or rhombus).
In 1971 MHI sold U.S. automotive giant Chrysler a 15 percent share in the new company. Thanks to this deal, Chrysler began selling rebadged Gallants in the United States as Dodge Colts, pushing MMC's annual production beyond 250,000 vehicles. In 1976, the Gallant was sold as the Chrysler Scorpion in Australia. By 1977, a network of "Colt"-branded distribution and sales

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