GAC Mitsubishi Motors, a joint venture between Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors and Chinese manufacturer GAC Group, suspended production at its factory in the central city of Changsha in June amid falling sales, local media outlet Yicai reported on Thursday. The company will lay off an undisclosed number of salaried employees, according to an internal memo sent on Wednesday and seen by Yicai. The memo adds that the company will now “take a chance” to follow the transition towards green energy vehicles. GAC’s electric vehicle unit Aion will take over and renovate the Changsha factory to make battery cars, Caixin reported. Sales of the joint venture more than halved to 3,969 units for the first three months of this year. The JV has four passenger vehicle models on sale, including an all-electric SUV launched last March. [Yicai, in Chinese]
