【Just a Stranger】

Mitsubishi Motors is Just a Strangerset to withdraw from the Chinese auto market and will officially announce a finalized exit plan at the end of this month. The Japanese automaker aims to dispose of a regional unit that has long underperformed. Several employees informed the Chinese media outlet Tencent News on Monday, adding that GAC Aion, the electric vehicle unit of GAC Group, will take over around half of the 3,000 workers from a vehicle assembly plant jointly established by the two automakers a decade ago. Situated in the central Chinese city of Changsha with a production capacity of 200,000 units annually, the facility has been under renovation by GAC and will start manufacturing Aion-branded EVs as early as next May, according to the employees. The two companies have been offering significant discounts to help clear out inventory since early this year. They suspended production in June while posting sales of 12,000 vehicles for the first six months of 2023, as reported by local media outlet Yicai on July 13. [Tencent News, in Chinese]

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