Mitsubishi Motors to Spend $200M on Illinois Plant Expansion

NORMAL, IL-Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc. is planning a $200-million expansion of its 636-acre manufacturing facility here that will increase the plant’s capacity 25% and create an estimated 300 new jobs. The current facility is two million sf and covers 636 acres. The expansion will add another 400,000 sf that will support the production of Endeavor and other future Mitsubishi products riding the same new platform, including the next-generation Galant sedan to be unveiled next month at the New York International Auto Show.

The company expects to break ground on the expansion in April and complete construction in fall of 2004. A source at Mitsubishi tells GlobeSt.com the building contractor will be New York City-based Kajima Associates, a unit of Tokyo-based Kajima Corp. subsidiary Kajima USA.

The project follows a recent 170,000-sf addition to the facility and potentially precedes yet another expansion. Mitsubishi Motors says it is studying further options for increasing capacity that could include utilizing available production capacity at one of alliance partner DaimlerChrysler North American plants, expanding the Illinois facility even further or potentially building a new plant. A decision is expected by this summer.