Mitsubishi Motors North America to Move U.S. Headquarters Closer to Nissan in Franklin, Tennessee

The Outlander is the core of the business.

Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) will relocate its headquarters from Cypress, California, to Franklin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. The company that was close to bankruptcy before the Nissan-Renault Alliance gave it a reprieve claims the “move proves strength of Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance, as efficiencies between Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan grow in the U.S.” ( Nissan Buys 37% of Scandal-Beset Mitsubishi Motors for $2.2B)

It appears to be part of a global trend as the troubled Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance brings the individual companies closer together in in procurement, development and cost efficiencies. MMNA chose Franklin as its new home because it allows the focus on company-wide reinvention to take advantage of the area’s technology skillset. Whether this actually results in real cost savings through proximity to sister company, Nissan remains to be seen.

MMNA has seen an ongoing strengthening of the business for six straight years of annual sales gains, the last two years at more than 100,000 sales annually. It as either that or die.

Since 1988, MMNA has been in California -now Cypress, and Fountain Valley prior to that. This latest move will begin in August and be completed by the end of 2019. Initially, MMNA will be transferring operations to a temporary office in Franklin.  Beyond that, MMNA officials are working with representatives from commercial real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle, to identify the company’s permanent offices.

There are nearly 200 people working in MMNA’s Cypress office. All corporate departments will be relocating, including sales, marketing, IT, human resources, communications, parts and service, product planning, dealer operations, finance and legal. MMNA was silent on potential job losses.

MMNA’s west coast parts distribution center (PDC), now on the existing headquarters campus, also will be relocating.  MMNA is working with Nissan North America to establish its PDC in a new shared facility in Riverside, California. The 25 employees representing the company’s Western Region operations will move to new offices elsewhere in Orange County, California. 

No other Mitsubishi Motors facilities in the U.S. are affected for the moment, including Mitsubishi Research and Development North America (MRDA) R&D operations in Ann Arbor, Michigan and MRDA government relations operations in Washington, D.C.

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