Kurihara, 59, succeeds Hiroshi Harunari, who is returning to the parent company in Japan. It will be Kurihara's third tour of duty in the States. He currently is senior executive officer in charge of worldwide product strategy, directing the company's global product planning, long-term marketing and brand development.
From 1996-2001, Kurihara was senior vice president of product strategy at MMSA. He earlier served in product planning and marketing positions in the U.S. Among other products, he was instrumental in the development of several generations of the long-running Lancer Evolution and spearheaded the most recent iteration of the Colt compact.
Kurihara returns to the U.S. at a difficult time for Mitsubishi, which announced last week that it is pulling out of the Detroit auto show. Mitsubishi's U.S. sales have plunged 24 percent in the first 10 months.
Mitsubishi said Kurihara in the U.S. "will take an active role in reinforcing the success of Lancer and Outlander to help energize Galant, Eclipse and the exciting forthcoming products."
Inside Line says: If anyone can help Mitsubishi engineer a product-led turnaround, it will be Kurihara. But is the job too big for one person? — Paul Lienert, Correspondent
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