New Mitsubishi COO Highlights Sales Growth, Ally Partnership

Mitsubishi Motors North America posted its best May sales figures in 11 years, up 19.7% year over year, and Ally Financial Inc. is set to support those sales through 2020, Mark Chaffin, the OEM’s chief operating officer, told Auto Finance News.

While the Ally partnership pre-dates Chaffin’s promotion last month, the new COO told AFN that partnering with Ally was the right move for the business “under the economic and business conditions at that time.” The OEM signed a five-year contract with Ally in 2015, a year before joining the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, which has put MMNA in a “strong” position to deliver improved profitability, more appealing products, and advanced technologies, Chaffin said.

He declined to comment on whether Mitsubishi will seek to form its own captive come 2020, or whether it would join the financial arm of one of its alliance partners, such as Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. For now, the still relatively small OEM is focused on growing sales in North America through new crossover brands.

“The Alliance has strong goals for Mitsubishi,” Chaffin said. “In order to achieve those goals, we need substantial gains in the key North American market.” By 2022, the alliance’s member companies forecast to sell more than 14 million vehicles combined.

As the largest alliance in the industry, the merger has a “direct, positive impact on the growth and profit of each member company,” Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi, said in a press release.