Mitsubishi cars in RI won't be recalled

Mitsubishi cars in RI won't be recalled

JAKARTA (JP): Mitsubishi cars' sole distributor PT Krama Yudha
said on Wednesday that Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s decision to
recall some 200,000 units sold overseas for repairs does not
include those sold in Indonesia.

Kramat's marketing and promotion manager Yogi Indradjit said
the company had been notified by Mitsubishi Motors that Indonesia
was not among the countries where Mitsubishi cars were being
recalled.

"We can guarantee that our market here is safe; customers do
not need to worry," Yogi told The Jakarta Post.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Mitsubishi Motors would
recall 88,000 vehicles at home and some 200,000 vehicles in the
overseas markets to conduct repairs that would cost the company
some 7.5 billion yen (US$69.09 million).

Yogi said his company imported only Completely Knocked Down
(CKD) Mitsubishi cars, which were then assembled here.

Whereas other countries, he said, often imported Completely
Built Up (CBU) cars that were fully manufactured in Japan.

"Mitsubishi cars here have different specifications than
elsewhere," he explained.

Furthermore, he said models sold in Indonesia were not among
the models that Mitsubishi Motors planned to recall.

According to the news agency, Mitsubishi Motors admitted to
have covered-up customers' complaints for over 20 years.

"I have no option but to admit the report reflects a truly
regrettable state of affairs. That state of affairs is the result
of a lack of respect for rules and regulations on the part of the
company officers and employees involved," the company's president
Katsuhiko Kawasoe said on Tuesday at a news conference.

Mitsubishi Motors said an internal inquiry found the firm had
been hiding complaints since 1977, while a transport ministry
official said 64,000 of 88,000 complaints filed since April 1998
had been kept secret.

On July 18, Mitsubishi Motors said it would offer to recall or
check 692,000 cars and trucks in Japan, after saying it hid
complaints for eight years.

AFP reported that Kawasoe submitted a report to the Transport
Ministry on the scandal, which first surfaced in press reports
last month, acknowledging for the first time the extent of the
cover-up.

"Illegal acts have been going on for a long time," he said.

He said that executives, including himself, would take pay
cuts and some senior managers would be demoted.(bkm)