Tokyo, February 3, 2020 – Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) has today concluded disaster cooperation agreements with Saitama Prefecture and the city of Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture, together with MMC sales affiliates* based in each of the two areas. MMC is promoting the DENDO Community Support Program, which aims to create systems that can quickly provide electric vehicles to the local government when disasters occur. With these two agreements concluded, MMC has agreements with 21 local governments in Japan, as of the end of January.
The purpose of these agreements is to eliminate time taken to confirm required information with local governments when disasters occur, and to quickly provide disaster-affected areas, evacuation sites, and other places with MMC's electric vehicles that can serve as power sources, such as the Outlander PHEV, a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.
As a suburban area with many residents who commute to Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture has a large population and is engaging in disaster-preparedness efforts, which include measures to be ready for large numbers of people being unable to return home in the event of a major earthquake directly under Tokyo. Meanwhile, having recently marked 25 years since the Great Hanshin Earthquake disaster, the city of Kobe is putting together disaster response systems that utilize lessons learned from the past earthquake experience.
* Agreement with Saitama Prefecture: East Mitsubishi Motor Sales Group
Agreement with the city of Kobe: Hyogo Mitsubishi Motor Sales Group
(from left to right)
Hirotaka Into,
Corporate Vice President of MMC,
Motohiro Ono,
Governor of Saitama Prefecture,
Akio Osada,
President of EAST Mitsubishi Motor Sales
Group
(from left to right)
Koichiro Nishihara,
President of Hyogo Mitsubishi Motor Sales
Group,
Hiroaki Yui,
Deputy Mayor of Kobe City,
Wakabayashi Yosuke,
Corporate Vice President of MMC
The Outlander PHEV has a function that can store the energy generated by its engine in its high-capacity drive battery as an external power supply when needed. These agreements will undoubtedly strengthen the disaster response systems of both Saitama Prefecture and Kobe, while helping the residents in their communities to be safer and more secure.
Aiming to conclude disaster cooperation agreements with local governments throughout Japan by fiscal year 2022, MMC is working to promote the understanding and widespread use of EVs/PHEVs, and to strengthen support systems for 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 2018 was 1,244,000 units, and the net sales of Mitsubishi Motors for fiscal year 2018 was 2.51 trillion yen. Mitsubishi Motors is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
