Iwasaki Yatarō was born in the Tosa domain in 1834 into a family of former rural-samurai status. He was a diligent though mischievous student, and, unlike many contemporary samurai, he appears to have made a conscious decision to study business and eschew activist political movements.
Yataro Iwasaki became the first president and the company engaged mainly in shipping as well as in a variety of business such as mining and shipbuilding industries.
In 1873, the company’s name was changed to Mitsubishi Shokai. By 1880 Mitsubishi had emerged as the largest shipping company based in East Asia. The company bought into coal mining in 1881 by acquiring the Takashima mine and Hashima Island in 1890, using the produce to fuel their extensive steamship fleet.
They also diversified into shipbuilding, banking, insurance, warehousing, and trade. Later diversification carried the organization into such sectors as paper, steel, glass, electrical equipment, aircraft, oil, and real estate.
Mitsubishi’s involvement in the automotive industry dates back as far as 1917, when Mitsubishi Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. first introduced the Mitsubishi Model A.
During the Second World War, Mitsubishi manufactured aircraft, under the direction of Jiro Horikoshi. The Mitsubishi Zero was a primary Japanese naval fighter in World War II.
As well as building prominent fighters, Mitsubishi also built many of Japan's most famous bombers of the war, such as the G3M, the G4M, the Ki-21, and the Ki-67. During the 1930s, Mitsubishi had also built the single-engine Ki-35.
At the end of the Second World War Japans large industrial groups were dismantled by order of the Allied powers and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was split into three regional companies, each with an involvement in motor vehicle development.
In 1954 the New Mitsubishi Shoji was founded, and that same year was listed on both Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges.
By the beginning of the 1960s, Japan’s economy was gearing up: wages were rising, and the idea of family motoring was taking off.
It was decided that the company should create a single operation to focus on the automotive industry and, in 1970 the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) was formed.
In 1970, the company signed an LNG purchase and sale agreement in Brunei. This was its first large-scale investment. The company began expanding its development and investment-based businesses on global scale, as evidenced by iron-ore and metallurgical coal projects in Australia and Canada and salt field business in Mexico.
Together with its over 500 group companies, Mitsubishi employs a multinational workforce of approximately 54,000 people. Mitsubishi has long been engaged in business with customers around the world in many industries, including energy, metals, machinery, chemicals, food and general merchandise.
Mitsubishi Company in history
