Devastated workers at Mitsubishi’s Australian assembly operations in Adelaide were told they would be without a job yesterday.
At the Tonsley Park plant, Mitsubishi Australia president Rob McEniry told workers that the facility will close by the end of March, leaving close to 1,000 employees without a job.
The workers have been told to take the rest of the week off on full pay and return to work again on Monday.
The car maker’s decision signals the end of over 40 years of local production for the Japanese company and also finally lays to rest the decade-long saga over Mitsubishi’s manufacturing future in Australia.
It also follows the company’s closure of it’s engine plant in Adelaide in 2005 and a series of assistance packages offered by successive state and federal governments to maintain the car maker’s local operations.