Rolf Eckrodt

Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement that a replacement will be chosen soon, and that Keiichiro Hashimoto, its chief financial officer, will be acting president.

The Tokyo-based automaker, burdened with a multibillion-dollar debt, plunging car sales and a spate of recalls, was dealt a serious blow by the German-U.S. automaker's announcement that squelched speculation about a revival plan with hundreds of billions of dollars of additional cash.

The German-born Eckrodt, formerly president of Adtranz, the rail systems unit of DaimlerChrysler, was sent in by DaimlerChrysler, which owns 37 percent of Mitsubishi Motors, in 2001 to lead a planned turnaround at the automaker.

Eckrodt said he was stepping down because of DaimlerChrysler's decision against financial support and the subsequent decision by the Mitsubishi group companies to hammer out a different revival plan.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries owns 15 percent of the automaker, trading company Mitsubishi Corp. has a 5 percent stake and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi has 3 percent.

The Japan Times Weekly: May 1, 2004
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