PRESS RELEASE

Mitsubishi Fuso announces future undertakings

April 21 , 2004

Tokyo, April 21, 2004 - Mitsubishi Fuso today held a press conference to report on the change in the board of directors, the ongoing in-house investigations regarding the hub recall and the quality initiatives of Mitsubishi Fuso.

The company once again expressed its regret for the fact that one of its vehicles in the scope of the recall measure caused a fatal accident. Mitsubishi Fuso also regrets the insufficient pursuit of the root cause for hub breakage as well as the insufficient sensitivity towards safety issues. In the press conference, Porth also took the opportunity to once again apologize for the public disturbance Mitsubishi Fuso caused with the hub related recalls.

Concerning its own investigations, Fuso reported the installation of two additional investigation teams, mainly composed of outside counsels in order to reinforce the internal investigation team. One of these teams is headed by an external lawyer, Mr. Yasuyuki Takai, Head of the Takai Law office.

These teams are currently conducting the investigation intensively. The investigation results will be made available to the President & CEO in May and will be made public as much as possible in consideration of the limits related to the investigation by public authority.

At the same time, the new management in place since the spin-off in January 2003, has already taken numerous actions towards quality. This includes a wide reorganization of all quality processes throughout the company. One example for the quality process improvements is the installation of a monthly quality report in April last year to increase management attention on product quality and customer feedback.
Another example is Fuso’s new Quality Gate system for the development of its future products, which is fully operational as of this month. It was adopted from DaimlerChrysler to set common standards and also facilitates easy sharing of engineering data in Fuso’s joint product projects with DaimlerChrysler.

In addition to these already started measures, Fuso is taking three major steps, which are based on the lessons it learned during the hub recall.

1. Establishment of an independent quality advisory committee.

Comprised of one internal representative, which is Mr. Hori, and outside experts in fields such as technology, corporate governance, and change management, this committee will begin to analyze all aspects of quality management and other related issues right after Golden Week. The committee will provide monthly reports directly to the CEO.

Fuso is currently in discussion with Prof. Naomasa Nakajima, who is vice president of the Housou University and a highly competent expert in engineering processes, asking him to take the lead of this committee.

The committee will be supported by subcommittees, which will pay special attention on the key areas of engineering and testing, quality management, customer claim handling, and employee qualification.

2. Thorough reform of quality management and R&D organizations.

Quality and safety are top priority management issues. Therefore, the management of Mitsubishi Fuso is implementing a systematic and comprehensive restructuring of the departments in charge for quality management, as well as research and development. In R&D, Fuso will establish a clear product focus and an independent testing office. By eliminating one management level, communication will be sped up and responsibility will be increased.

The company also appointed a new corporate general manager for its quality and technical affairs office. Mr. Hideyuki Shiozawa, currently the head of Fuso’s small bus plant in Oye, has a solid technical background and is an experienced manager. His task is to implement all necessary changes in the company’s quality management organization.

3. Establishment of a corporate culture reformation committee.

This committee consists of 12 middle management leaders, and has the task to promote an open-minded and transparent corporate culture throughout the new Mitsubishi Fuso mapped out by management. This committee will also directly make recommendations to the CEO.

Personnel Changes

As announced on April 20, 2004, Mr. Michio Hori, has become the new Chairman of the board of Mitsubishi Fuso. In his new position, Hori will play a decisive role in the reformation of the Fuso’s corporate culture and the monitoring of its improvement measures. His successor as the CFO will be decided shortly.

Hori commented his appointment and said “What is important is the development of human resource and change in corporate culture.” Assuming the office as the Chairman of the Board, Hori added “I will promote the integration of everybody to do the very best to regain the trust once lost”.

The company also announced the appointment of Mr. Tetsuo Fujii as a new member of the board from the former post as senior executive officer and corporate general manager of the production office. This shows Fuso’s clear commitment to its Japanese roots and brings additional power and expertise to the board of directors.

The management of Mitsubishi Fuso takes the development of the past few weeks very seriously and does not compromise on quality. The quick implementation of these intensive changes is a proof of this. The company also announced that it will report to the public on the progress of its actions on a periodical basis to the extent possible. Depending on the outcome of its investigations, the company will implement further actions.