Mitsubishi setting up joint venture for vehicle financing

Monday, Nov. 29, 2004 | 9:15 a.m.

TOKYO -- Money-losing Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said today that it is setting up a joint venture with the investment firm Merrill Lynch & Co. to offer auto-sales financing services in the United States.

Details of the deal were not decided, but Mitsubishi Motors also said it agreed to sell $2 billion of its U.S. credit company's $4 billion assets -- including leases and loans -- to Merrill Lynch, a spokesman at the Tokyo-based automaker said. The price was not disclosed.

Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc.

Mitsubishi Motors has been plagued by a series of defect-coverup scandals in Japan that have badly tarnished its image and sent sales plunging here.

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