Tokyo, July 3, 2020 – MITSUBISHI MOTORS CORPORATION (MMC) and its subsidiary Nishi Nihon Mitsubishi Motor Sales concluded a disaster cooperation agreement on July 3 with Gamagori City in Aichi Prefecture, and a ceremony was held at Gamagori City Hall to commemorate the occasion. MMC has been using the parking lot at the Port of Gamagori for shipping export cars since 1978, and this agreement will now build stronger cooperative frameworks for disaster preparedness in addition to business cooperation to date.
(from left to right) Minoru Saito, Okazaki Plant General Manager of MMC, Mr. Hisaaki Suzuki,
Mayor of Gamagori City, Kyoya Igarashi, President of Nishi Nihon Mitsubishi Motor Sales
Mayor of Gamagori City, Kyoya Igarashi, President of Nishi Nihon Mitsubishi Motor Sales
The purpose of this agreement is to reduce time taken to confirm necessary information with the local government when disasters occur, and to quickly provide disaster-affected areas and evacuation sites with MMC's electric vehicles that can serve as power sources such as Outlander PHEV plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. MMC is promoting the DENDO Community Support Program to establish disaster cooperation agreements with local governments throughout Japan by FY2022, and this agreement with Gamagori City is the 55th thus far.
The Port of Gamagori is where MMC ships finished cars produced at its Okazaki Plant in Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture, and at Pajero Manufacturing in Sakahogi Town, Gifu Prefecture, to North America and other global destinations. MMC has shipped around 100,000 cars annually from Gamagori in recent years, and the cumulative total is expected to reach 2.5 million in 2021.
"Thanks to all the support we have received from the people of Gamagori over the years, we will soon reach a total of 2.5 million cars shipped,"said Minoru Saito, general manager, Okazaki Plant at the ceremony. "Mitsubishi Motors strongly hopes to be able to contribute to their health and safety through this agreement."
On the occasion of the agreement, Gamagori City introduced one MMC electric vehicle Minicab-MiEV Van to its fleet for use in case of emergencies, and the city plans to introduce more electric vehicles from fiscal 2021 onward. Going forward, MMC will continue cooperating closely with local governments throughout Japan to facilitate greater understanding and dissemination of electric vehicles, and to promote initiatives that aim to strengthen support systems in case of disasters.
About MITSUBISHI MOTORS
MITSUBISHI MOTORS CORPORATION is a global automobile company based in Tokyo, Japan, which has a competitive edge in SUVs and pickup trucks, electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. The company launched the i-MiEV –the first mass-produced electric vehicle in 2009, which was followed by the OUTLANDER PHEV in 2013 –a plug-in hybrid market leader in Japan and Europe. Mitsubishi Motors has 30,000 employees and a global footprint with production facilities in Japan, Thailand, China, Indonesia, the Philippines and Russia. Models, such as the PAJERO SPORT/MONTERO SPORT, TRITON/L200, OUTLANDER, ASX/OUTLANDER SPORT/RVR and XPANDER play a major role in achieving its growth. The global sales volume in fiscal year 2019 was 1,127,000 units, and the net sales of Mitsubishi Motors for fiscal year 2019 was 2.27 trillion yen. Mitsubishi Motors is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
