At the Controls of Mitsubishi

A high-flying boss with a familiar name

After Japan's surrender in World War II, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Tokyo moved from the production of warplanes to the manufacture of motor vehicles. At the same time, an ambitious young Mitsubishi engineer named Teruo Tojo was shifting over from work on the firm's famed Zero fighter plane to the design of buses and trucks for peacetime. As things turned out, the switch from planes to cars proved a smart one for all concerned. Mitsubishi Motors Corp., now a subsidiary of MHI, has become Japan's fourth largest automaker (fiscal 1980 sales: $5.2 billion), and next week Tojo, 66, will become the firm's president and chief executive officer.

Though the appointment has evoked little if any comment in either Japan or the U.S., the selection of Tojo is an ironic one. Mitsubishi's new boss is the son of Hideki Tojo, the Japanese wartime Prime Minister who directed the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and was later tried and executed by an Allied war crimes tribunal in 1948.

As president of Mitsubishi Motors, Tojo now faces a problem that his father's generation would certainly never have dreamed of: how to boost the sale of cars and trucks in what has become, to Japan, the all-important U.S. market. Mitsubishi's difficulties are compounded by voluntary trade restrictions. For the forthcoming year, Japan has agreed to limit its auto exports to the U.S. to 1.7 million vehicles.

Mitsubishi made one of Japan's first commercially manufactured cars, called the Model A, back in 1917. Since then, it has fallen behind domestic competitors like Toyota and Nissan, the company that makes Datsuns. The company's struggle to crack the U.S. market dates back to 1971, when Mitsubishi agreed to let Chrysler Corp. become its sole U.S. distributor. "Ten years ago, we were but a babe and Chrysler a big man," recalls Tojo. "Now Chrysler is a big burden for us." As Chrysler's financial problems have worsened, its dealer base has shriveled, and Mitsubishi has steadily lost ground to tough Japanese competitors like Honda and Toyo Kogyo. Last year, Mitsubishi's cars, which include the sporty Challenger and the economical Colt subcompact, accounted for only 6.9% of all Japanese exports to the U.S.

Around Mitsubishi headquarters, the arrangement with Chrysler became known as "a serious faux pas." Earlier this year, the company finally succeeded in pressuring Chrysler into relaxing its marketing hold by offering the ailing automaker import-financing help of up to $150 million a year. Beginning in the fall of 1982, Mitsubishi will be able to set up and operate its own U.S. dealer network, as well as sell cars and trucks through Chrysler outlets. Even so, it may not be until 1983, and the end of voluntary import restrictions, that Mitsubishi can push its export drive into high gear.

Meanwhile, Tojo is confident that his company will prosper. Widely regarded for its engineering expertise, Mitsubishi offers 30 different types of vehicles, ranging from buses to Jeeps. In 1975, it introduced a kind of car motor that reduced fuel consumption by as much as 20%. The company also offers a sound-reduction system with its engines that cuts car noises and vibration by 8%. Such innovations bolster the firm's reputation for engineering. Says Tojo: "We have in our company enough technology to cope with whatever Detroit might come up with in the future."

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