After more than a year of trying to reverse major sales declines at Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., Finbarr O’Neill has thrown in the towel.
The former chief executive of the unit of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. plans to take the helm of Dayton, Ohio-based The Reynolds and Reynolds Co.
Mitsubishi named Rich Gilligan, president of North American manufacturing, as O’Neill’s replacement.
Mark Feighery, spokesman for Reynolds, said the search for a new chief executive has been ongoing since July, when its former chief resigned.
Feighery said O’Neill will move to Dayton. Reynolds
Reynolds, which makes accounting and payroll software systems for auto dealerships in the U.S., has nearly $1 billion in annual sales and 3,400 employees.
O’Neill was closely watched by the auto industry. He was credited with turning around Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc.
In 2003, he joined struggling Mitsubishi, which had been hit hard by loan defaults from the young auto buyers it cultivated.
So O’Neill took a play from his book at Hyundai by pushing beefy warranties and service in Mitsubishi’s advertising, instead of sexy cars and easy credit.
Auto industry watchers said he could do the same for Mitsubishi as he did for Hyundai. He just needed more time and money from Mitsubishi’s parent company in Japan, observers said.
But last year DaimlerChrysler AG, which holds a 37% stake in Mitsubishi, decided not to invest more in Mitsubishi.
And O’Neill wasn’t able to stem the sales decline in North America. Total auto sales for the nine months through November were down 37% to 150,458, versus a year earlier.
Mitsubishi’s North American unit also recently lost its head of marketing and advertising.
In other Reynolds news, by the end of this month, the company said it plans to close its finance and insurance call center in Irvine. About 90 workers will lose their jobs.
Feighery said the move is part of a consolidation of its call centers from three to two.
