Takao Kato
Member of the Board
Representative Executive Officer,
President & CEO
We will take on the challenge of a turning point in a new era to achieve sustainable growth and increase corporate value.
Covid-19 which has raged for the past three years finally shows signs of abating, and people's lives are returning to normal. On the other hand, the environment surrounding our company is becoming increasingly uncertain, i.e., the situation in Russia and Ukraine with no way out in sight, widespread inflation at levels not seen in decades, sharply rising interest rates to curb inflation, and concerns over the global economic recession. Under these circumstances, we were able to overachieve the goals set in our previous mid-term business plan "Small but Beautiful" for the period to FY2022, and announced a new mid-term business plan "Challenge 2025" for FY2023 to FY2025.
The automotive industry is now in the midst of a once-in-a-century era of tremendous change. In addition to electrification as a countermeasure to combat global warming, the development of technologies such as AI and IoT is drastically changing the notion of automobiles as a means to transport people and goods, and the automotive industry is heading into a new era.
We believe that the next three years will be a major turning point for our company as moving into a new era. "Challenge 2025" is named to accomplish two challenges: a challenge that we must change ourselves over the next three years, and a challenge that we must further strengthen our management foundation in preparation for the new era.
Under "Challenge 2025", we plan to establish a stable revenue base based on a management structure that has become leaner and more agile as a result of the structural reforms we have undertaken to date, while continuing our "selection and concentration" regional strategy and company-wide "net revenue improvement activities." In addition, we will invest more steadily in R&D and capex than ever before. In particular, we will increase the proportion of expenditure on electrification, IT fields, and new businesses to achieve sustainable growth for the company.
In terms of products, we will promote electrification in order to solve global climate change issues and realize carbon neutrality. Regionally, we will further accelerate the conventional "selection and concentration" strategy, and allocate management resources after clarifying the roles of each region.
On the business front, we will expand the value chain and take on the challenge of new businesses to create new sources of earnings in the future. We will also promote our brand value by building long-term relationships of trust with our customers through products and technologies that are unique to Mitsubishi Motors.
We have also redefined the "Mitsubishi Motors-ness" in order to further enhance our customers' understanding of our brand value. We believe that what Mitsubishi Motors aims to be, in other words, "Mitsubishi Motors-ness" is to contribute to society in terms of the environment while providing safety, security, and comfort to our customers. We define this as providing customers with a fulfilling mobility life that awakens their adventurous spirit on the basis of reliability backed by technology that achieves "Eco-friendly x Safety Technology, Peace of Mind and Comfort."
By communicating this concept to our customers and sharing it with them, we intend to strengthen the Mitsubishi Motors brand and infiltrate our value-oriented business.
Going forward, based on our vision of "Create a vibrant society by realizing the potential of mobility," we aim to realize a sustainable society and sustainable growth of our company by defining our materiality/top priority issues in conducting our business to achieve carbon neutrality, establish a workplace where human rights are respected and diverse talents can play an active role, and ensure highly transparent management to all stakeholders.
April, 2023