GHK Motors Sdn Bhd, representing Brunei, is hosting a two-day Mitsubishi Motors Asean Distributors Meeting (ADM) for the first time this year at the Empire Hotel and Country Club. Today, delegates will discuss Mitsubishi Motor Corporation's (MMC) overall performance in 2010, which saw a 228 per cent increase in net profits, along with other future strategies.
Mitsubishi Motors' net profit came to ¥15.6 billion ($236 million) for the fiscal year of 2010, up from ¥4.8 billion a year earlier.
MMC's operating profit also nearly tripled to ¥40.3 billion, while sales jumped 26.5 per cent to Y$1.83 trillion.
"Our sales volume increased mainly due to an expansion of the (global) market, particularly in emerging economies as well as the impact of launches of new models," MMC said in a statement released earlier this year.
It added: "The increase in unit sales volume together with factors such as reductions in material and other costs more than offset the negative impact of the strong Yen."
As host for the ADM this year, GHK Group felt that it is a proud and significant milestone for the Sultanate.
The ADM, which was initially scheduled to be held in April, was postponed due to the tragic tsunami that hit Japan earlier this year.
During the ADM meet, about 50 representatives from Asean Mitsubishi Motors distributors, importers and most importantly, MMC's president Osamu Masuko are set to focus on the corporation's performance of the 2010 fiscal year.
Masuko, who took over as president in 2005, made a significant impact on the company, especially during the recession period.
Masuko, who began his career with the Motor Vehicle Department of Mitsubishi Corporation in 1972, has turned Mitsubishi around and back into a profitable organisation after becoming President.
Prior to his present position, Masuko had been devoting himself to Mitsubishi Corporation's automotive businesses.
He has also spent several years in Jakarta with PT Krama Yudha Tiga Berlian Motors (Indonesia's Mitsubishi Distributor) as its Chief Advisor.
It was in 2004 when Masuko moved into the MMC division as its Managing Director and the Head of Overseas Operations.
In January 2005, he was appointed as the President of MMC, a position he had since held.
GHK Motors, the official Mitsubishi distributor in Brunei, also posted a strong year in 2010 where they sold 989 vehicles, a three per cent increase from the company's 2009 total of 960, figures from the Brunei Automobile Trader's Association (Bata) showed.
The increase in sales was due to the company's introduction of the Mitsubishi Lancer (a saloon model) and the ASX (Mitsubishi's new cross-over model).
However, the ASX was only introduced in the last quarter of the year, which would imply that Mitsubishi's sales in Brunei will be even stronger this year due to both popular models.
GHK is also planning on introducing the first-ever fully electric vehicle, Mitsubishi's i-MiEV, to Brunei this year to capture an entirely new automobile market. The i-MiEV is a new generation electric vehicle that does not run on gasoline and requires its battery to be charged from an electrical output.
For MMC last year, the Asian region posted the biggest sales volume of 629,000 units, an 18 per cent increase over the previous fiscal year, while Asean markets' sales volume saw the highest rise of 59 per cent in Asia, from 105,000 units to 167,000 units.
Even with a major disruption due to the tsunami, MMC is still forecasting, for Fiscal Year 2011, a global sales volume with a nine per cent increase over the previous fiscal year. It is also expecting to post a net profit of ¥$20 billion, a 28 per cent improvement over Fiscal Year 2010, MMC said in a statement released in June. The Brunei Times
