Mitsubishi Motors looks to cut jobs in Thailand

Japanese automaker expects sales slump to persist beyond lockdown

YOHEI MURAMATSU, Nikkei staff writer

 

Mitsubishi Motors shows off the Thai-made Attrage in November. (Photo by Yohei Muramatsu)

 

BANGKOK -- Mitsubishi Motors aims to trim its workforce in Thailand as the automaker reduces output in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

Mitsubishi Motors informed plant workers of the early retirement offer on May 7, it was revealed Wednesday. The company has offered severance packages equivalent to eight to 35 months of wages, depending on employee age and seniority.

 

No numerical goal for job cuts has been set by the company, which last month sought 300 billion yen ($2.8 billion) in financing from banks as a buffer against a sales slump.

 

Full story: https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Automobiles/Mitsubishi-Motors-looks-to-cut-jobs-in-Thailand

 

-- © Copyright Nikkei Asian Review 2020-05-14

 

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Any excuse, an Accountant will twist it to favour shareholders, sod the ones who created the wealth. No im a Capitalist, but they are the Non Acceptable Face of it imo.

It sucks for the workers but for the ones who get redundancy packages it softens the blow a bit.  All around the world there are millions of workers facing a similar situation simply because there aren't enough buyers at the retail end.   The trend in Australia has been put off auto purchases till the economy is better.....  Going back to 2018 and 2019 auto sales just kept falling.   2020 is almost a disaster in Oz!  With the baht so expensive and people having other commitments to meet I would suggest some auto importers will shut up the import shop for the rest of 2020....but keep their retailers going with current stock.

IMO, Mitsubishi will depart Thailand.....they have nothing worthwhile for sale apart from the pick-ups....and Thais are still hooked on Toyota and Isuzu....with a few Fords thrown in.

1 hour ago, ChrisY1 said:

IMO, Mitsubishi will depart Thailand.....they have nothing worthwhile for sale apart from the pick-ups....and Thais are still hooked on Toyota and Isuzu....with a few Fords thrown in.

I agree. It'll be bye-bye Mitsu sooner than we might think...

 

Tears before bedtime as the chickens come home to roost.

 

 

Mitsubishi should probably just close down everything other than Triton and Pajero production here as that's all they really have to offer the Thai market. As for exporting, then there surely must be better/cheaper places to make stuff for exporting to elsewhere.

It won't just be Mitsubishi; all the major players will use Covid19 as a way of downsizing, stands to reason that cuts are inevitable in a falling market for just about all commodities apart from Food and Beer !

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by trainman34014

One good thing about this virus is that it will hopefully force more things being made in country rather buying in and then only buy what you cannot make - sadly for Thailand , it really doesn't have anything the world wants - apart from rice and women - and one of them is kilo'ing up so much now that even that is at risk

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

One good thing about this virus is that it will hopefully force more things being made in country rather buying in and then only buy what you cannot make - sadly for Thailand , it really doesn't have anything the world wants - apart from rice and women ...

Yes, it will be interesting to see how much re-shoring of companies there is and if other countries follow Japan's lead and offer big incentives for companies to "go home", so to speak. This will have a two-fold effect which will be safer, shorter and more secure supply lines and creating jobs at home rather than far away (both of which are very needed now). This (re-shoring of companies) could well be the way in which China ends up settling their bill ... with companies pulling out and China isn't the cheap place it used to be for many corporations and this Covid-19 virus could be just the push/excuse some of them needed, along with the incentives that will be offered by other countries so the rebuilding of economies can happen asap. Also, public opinion against China has nosedived, so many may not mind paying a few % more for something made at home or close instead of in China.

Edited May 14, 20206 yr by Brigand

Unfortunately countries appear to want to try to revamp production chains.  Keep production within their own borders.  This could be quite disruptive if it does in fact occur.  

 

Obviously Mistubishi is not going to recall these employees if they are giving buy-outs.  These employees need other jobs, and they will probably find something inferior.