Drift back to 2002 for a moment. Simmonds was part of team that included President Randy Sears and finance chief Andy Chong, and Tony Laframboise who would later become President among others. In just months, they needed to secure a permanent office, recruit staff, create processes and policies, develop dealers and so much else. Simmonds notes that the team had a lot of help and support from their counterparts in the United States, “but we also needed a lot of customization for Canada. The taxation (regime) is different, the regulations are different, the market is different and all these other things.”
So here we are in 2022, with Mitsubishi Canada celebrating its 20th anniversary and coming off an extraordinary 2021 with an industry-leading sales rebound. As Simmonds prepares to leave the company he helped to establish, Mitsubishi Canada’s 2021 sales were up 147 per cent. “2021 is a true testament of Mitsubishi Motors ability to adapt, to navigate the ever-changing and challenging environment,” Kenji Harada, President and CEO, Mitsubishi Motor Sales of Canada, Inc.
“The last two years have been really crazy,” says Simmonds, whose team was deeply involved in: • the launch of the all-new Outlander, a completely redesigned flagship vehicle and a definite turning point for the brand; • the launch of the all-new Outlander in dealerships in Spring 2021; • the launch of the refreshed Eclipse Cross in Spring 2021; • in fact, the redesign of every vehicle in their tight line up; • the continued growth and investment in dealerships, helping them provide a safe environment to buy and services vehicles; • the launched Click Shop, an online end-to-end tool that helped facilitate dealer sales • supporting the community with a $150,000-plus donation to Food Bank of Canada and aiding the Red Cross BC Flood Campaign.
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