Mitsubishi Motors to end US production

Mitsubishi said in a statement that it has been reviewing the structure of its global production, including in North America, but “there has been no decision made regarding it at this moment”. In 2014, it built 1.26 million vehicles.

Mitsubishi Motors, once one of the top Japanese auto brands, is going to stop producing cars in the U.S., Reuters is reporting based on a Nikkei report out of Japan.

A spokesperson for Mitsubishi said the company had no comment.

Mitsubishi is one of Japan’s smallest carmakers. Last year, production of the Outlander Sport utility vehicle totalled 69,178, according to Mitsubishi. Kyodo News also reported the plant will close, citing unnamed sources.

Annual production at the factory has fallen to 64,000 vehicles from more than 200,000 in 2002.

Normal Mayor Chris Koos, in an email on Thursday afternoon, said, “I have heard nothing, and am trying to get information” from the plant, which is located about 140 miles southwest of Chicago.

Kyle Young, vice president of UAW Local 2488, which represents the plant’s workers, said the union’s contract expires in August. “We’ve not heard one way or another”. “We’re supposed to have negotiations coming up” on a new contract. The Normal plant has been open since 1988.

Instead, the carmaker will shift more resources to its Asian plants including those in Thailand and the Philippines, the sources said.