By Eric Stock

NORMAL – An automotive expert said Mitsubishi Motors could have a tough time finding a buyer for the plant in Normal it wants to sell after announcing last week it was going to stop production later this year.

The Asia editor for Automotive News, Hans Greimel, told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin, Mitsubishi’s legacy as the only Japanese automaker to pay for union labor could be a deterrent for potential buyers.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott and Colleen’s interview with Greimel on WJBC.

“Having a unionized history at that plant may take the shine of it as a purchase target for other carmakers,” Greimel said, though he said that union labor probably kept the plant open longer than it otherwise would have.

Greimel said Mitsubishi never recovered from a financial collapse from the mid 2000s when it attracted many sub-prime buyers with zero-percent financing and zero-money-down and ended up with a lot of car buyers who defaulted on their loans.

“It boosted sales for a while, but when the financial crises came, it left them holding the bag on a lot of bad debt,” Greimel said.

Greimel said aside from the collapse of the Russian car market, Mitsubishi struggled to find its niche in the U.S.

“Mitsubishi made (a line of cars that wasn’t really suited for the United States,” Gremiel said. “It just couldn’t compete that well.”

Greimel said Mitsubishi’s close in Normal marks the end of an era in which Japanese carmakers partnered with U.S. companies. Mitsubishi came to Bloomington as a joint venture with Chrysler. The plant was producing more than 200,000 cars a year at its peak in the early 2000s.

The plant’s nearly 1,300 workers were told last week Mitsubishi plans to halt production on Nov. 30 but that the company is working with the United Auto Workers on finding a buyer for the property.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].