Struggling Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Monday that its group net loss widened to a record 474.8 billion yen in fiscal 2004, from 215.4 billion yen posted a year earlier.
The crisis-hit automaker mainly attributed the dismal results to sluggish sales in Japan and North America and one-time losses, including restructuring costs of 112.4 billion yen spent on plants in the United States and Australia.
MMC also spent huge amounts during the business year, including 74.7 billion yen in compensation to Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corp. investors and 25.2 billion yen to conduct free auto-inspection programs for Mitsubishi vehicle owners in Japan in the wake of a series of defect coverups that surfaced in March 2004.