Mitsubishi Motors Reiterates Profit Goal on Cost Cuts (Update1)

03/07/2008 15:08. July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Mitsubishi Motors Corp. , Japan's least-profitable major carmaker, reiterated its earnings forecast as the company focuses on cost cuts to help reduce the effects of rising steel and oil prices.

``We still expect to meet business targets for this year,'' even as the prices for oil and other material surge, President Osamu Masuko said in an interview today in Seoul.

Mitsubishi Motors expects net income to drop 42 percent this fiscal year because of higher raw material costs and a stronger yen. The Tokyo-based company's Lancer sedan is spurring sales in Russia and other emerging markets, helping make up for a drop in demand in North America and Japan.

The carmaker will strengthen its cost-cutting effort and may raise retail prices in emerging markets to meet its... // Bloomberg