Tariff Puts Future of Mitsubishi’s Montero in Doubt

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America Inc. said it may have to stop selling its Montero in the United States if the import tariff on four-door sport-utility vehicles is raised to 25% from 2.5%, according to an automotive newsletter.

Richard D. Recchia, executive vice president of Cypress-based Mitsubishi Motors, said he expects the new tariff to be levied by the Clinton Administration next month. If that happens, a decision on the Montero’s future would be made this summer, Recchia told the weekly newsletter Ward’s Automotive Reports.

Recchia also said that Mitsubishi’s car assembly plant in Normal, Ill., could not assemble Monteros to beat the import tariff. That plant now makes the Mitsubishi Eclipse coupes and Mirage sedans, as well as the Plymouth Laser and Eagle Talon sports coupes sold by Chrysler Corp.

The Montero’s U.S. sales are estimated at 8,000 for the 1993 model year, he said. If the higher tariff is imposed, 1994 sales of the $30,000 Montero would drop by 40% to 50%, he said.

Any new tariffs imposed during the 1993 model year probably wouldn’t affect vehicles until the 1994 model year, which starts in October.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders in the United Kingdom said the British auto industry would do anything it could to protect its U.S. sales of Land Rover sport-utility vehicles, which amount to about 4,200 a year.

“We’ll go to the mat for it,” Sir Hal Miller was quoted as saying in this week’s edition of Automotive News. He said the U.S. State Department has been hearing from British Prime Minister John Major and other top government officials about the proposal to increase the tariffs by 1,000% on four-door sport-utility vehicles.

Land Rover’s U.S. operations are based in Lanham, Md. It has been importing British-built Range Rover luxury sport-utility vehicles since 1987. Prices now range from about $45,000 to $49,000.