Production milestone for Mitsubishi
Just a year after celebrating its 40th anniversary, the plant known today as “NedCar” celebrates another milestone with the 1,000,000th Mitsubishi car, a Colt ClearTec, to roll off the line in a facility with less waste, reduced emissions and a cleaner environment.Colt ClearTec
The Colt ClearTec will be handed over today to the city of Sittard-Geleen, NedCar’s home town, during an informal ceremony in presence of Mr Sjraar Cox, Mayor of Sittard-Geleen, Aldermen Mr Pieter Meekels, Mr Ruud Guyt and Mrs Ingrid Widdershoven, as well as Geni Chiro Nishina, President & CEO of Mitsubishi Motors Europe B.V., Tetsuro Miki, Chairman & CEO of NedCar and Joost Govaarts, NedCar’s President & COO.
Opened by Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, on 27th June 1968, to accommodate the growing needs of the Dutch car manufacturer DAF, NedCar eventually became a 100% subsidiary of Mitsubishi Motors on March 30th, 2001.
Carisma, Space Star, Colt and Outlander
Whilst over 4.5 million cars (including DAFs, Volvos, Smarts and Mitsubishis) have been built at NedCar since the start, Mitsubishi Motors production only started in 1995, first with Carisma (391,345 units), followed by Space Star in 1998 (268,089 units), New Colt in 2004 (294,208 units) as well as Outlander and the next generation Colt, both in 2008.
Advancing Environmental Care and Reducing CO2 Emissions
Many column inches are rightly dedicated to tailpipe emissions, but Mitsubishi has also been working hard across its operations to promote and implement environmental technologies and projects to help preserve the environment for subsequent generations.
The NedCar plant has been certified for environmental care under the international ISO 14001 standard and EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) since 1995.
NedCar uses only solvent-free paints, reducing solvent emissions per car by an incredible 61%, which is considered one of the best results in the European car industry.
A pre-treatment and waste water cleaning installation has reduced heavy metals in the waste water by a staggering 76%.
Drinking water waste at the plant has been reduced by 44%.
By continuously focusing on the reduction of energy consumption the CO2 emissions per car is reduced by 27%.
Advanced Technologies
Covering 927,000 m² (enclosed area: 322,000 m²) and using a highly automated production process (over 600 industrial robots), NedCar has an enviable track record in the areas of quality, delivery reliability and cost efficiency, reaching high levels within the Mitsubishi Motors world over the years.
Mitsubishi Colt in the UK
The previous Colt’s sales success was built on a clear sales strategy not distress selling. In 2008 8,709 new Colts were sold, and despite the downturn in the current UK market Mitsubishi Motors are on track to overachieve 2009 sales targets.
The UK has seen its biggest sales growth in ‘B’ segment cars, and this can only be enhanced with the introduction of the government’s scrappage allowance scheme, the next generation Colt makes up 93% of Mitsubishi scrappage sales.
