New Mitsubishi Company Will Provide Credit

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. said Tuesday that it has established its own credit company as part of a corporate expansion program begun last year.

The new Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America will serve as the Cypress-based importer’s captive finance arm, supplying credit to dealers and consumers as an alternative to traditional bank financing.

Most major auto companies maintain their own finance units in order to capture the interest income that otherwise would go to outside lending sources.

Richard D. Recchia, chief operating officer for Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, said the new unit has been established at a particularly good time because banks and other commercial lenders are cutting back on auto loans.

Seichi Uo, past senior vice president of corporate planning for Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America, has been named president for Mitsubishi Motors Credit of America.

Mitsubishi, which established its U.S. headquarters in Orange County in 1982, last year launched a dealership expansion program that so far has added more than 100 dealers to its nationwide network. The company expects to have about 540 dealerships by the end of the year. In a second expansion move, Mitsubishi late last year acquired Florida-based Value Rent-A-Car, becoming the first auto importer in the nation to be sole owner of a daily car rental firm.