Mitsubishi Motors Plans on 400 Distributors by Year’s End

The U.S. distributor for Japanese auto maker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said today it plans to have 400 dealers in place by the end of 1989 as it aggressively expands into the Midwest and Southeast.

The strategy by Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. mirrors that of the U.S. marketers of larger Japanese car makers such as Toyota in establishing dealers in those regions considered the last domains of traditional U.S. auto makers after successfully penetrating the East and West Coast markets.

“It’s been void ground for us,” Richard Recchia, executive vice president of MMSA, said at a new model preview here.

MMSA, which had about 70 U.S. dealers in place during its first full year of operation in 1983, had 246 outlets at the end of last year. It plans further expansion in the early 1990s, when it hopes to increase its U.S. sales to 300,000 units, from 185,000 units forecast for 1989.

“We could have as many as 500 or 525 U.S. dealers by 1992,” Recchia said as Mitsubishi introduced the GSX, an all-wheel-drive version of its Eclipse sports coupe to go on sale later this year for under $17,000.