Mitsubishi Motors Corp. will release a strategic review of its North American operations early next year.
According to a draft of the carmaker's new business plan outlined Wednesday by Rolf Eckrodt, president and chief executive officer of MMC, the company is also considering launching two new models in the domestic market by mid-2004, including the Eclipse Spider sports car, which is already available in North America.
MMC incurred a group net loss of 80.22 billion yen for the fiscal first half of 2003 under the weight of massive charges against loan defaults in North America because the company's aggressive sales drive there included high credit-risk customers.
Eckrodt mentioned the slump in North American operations as a temporary setback and said MMC will pursue high profitability rather than sales volume by increasing its brand power.
MMC operates under the wing of German-U.S. automaker DaimlerChrysler AG.