Mitsubishi has posted a net loss of 63.8bn yen (£310m) in the first half of 2005, an improvement of 115bn yen (£558m) on the same period last year.

Operating loss was 19.8bn yen (£96m), an improvement of 56.6bn yen (£274.64m) over the same period last year.

Revenue totalled 991.3 billion yen (£4.81bn), 79.5bn yen (£386m) down from the same period last year (1,070.8bn yen (£5.2bn)).

The Japanese company cited low OEM supply volumes in overseas markets as the main reason behind its struggling performance.

Global market sales of Mitsubishi Motors vehicles in the first half of 2005 totalled 659,000 vehicles, an increase of 13,000 on the 646,000 sold in the same period last year.

In Europe, Mitsubishi Motors sold 131,000 vehicles, an increase of 19,000 over the same period last year. The increase was driven by robust sales in markets such as Russia, Germany and the UK, assisted by the addition of two new models to the Colt line-up in March.

The company has made minor adjustments to full-year sales volume forecasts for certain regions. It has revised volume for Japan upward by 3,000 vehicles to 256,000; has revised volume for North America downward by 15,000 vehicles to 169,000; and has revised volume for Asia and other regions upward by 12,000 vehicles to 691,000. (The full-year global sales volume forecast of 1,370,000 vehicles remains unchanged.)

Mitsubishi’s plans to boost its line-up with the introduction of the new one-tonne pickup truck and Lancer Evolution IX models while expanding sales of existing models in Europe for the second half of the year. It will also aim to expand sales in Germany, the UK and other major markets as well as in Russia, the Ukraine and other growth markets.