Mitsubishi hopes to shift its research and development investment into electric vehicles and other technologies.

The platform is a car’s foundational component; the engine, interiors and exteriors are attached to it. Developing one costs tens of billions of yen, or about half the development cost of a new car.

For this reason, several models often share the same platform.

Mitsubishi Motors had eight platforms as of March. The carmaker looks to reduce that to four by March 2026. It expects to develop two by itself for Southeast Asia, its core market.

The remaining two platforms would be co-developed with Nissan. Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan and France’s Renault are in the same alliance. The two Japanese companies by 2019 were sharing 40% of their platforms; they are now looking to work more closely together.

Mitsubishi would be Japan’s first automaker to terminate the development of platforms used for passenger cars sold in Japan. The company would continue developing interiors, exteriors and drive devices.

Mitsubishi Motors has suffered losses for the past two fiscal years and is stopping the production of unprofitable models, including that of a sedan in 2016 and the Pajero SUV in July.

The company has an R&D budget of ¥99 billion for the fiscal year ending March 2022, 30% less than the record-high amount for fiscal 2019. The budget is expected to stay around ¥100 billion.

Other carmakers have also cut down on costly platform investment. Subaru folded two types of platforms into one since 2016.

Honda Motor is working with General Motors to develop platforms for EVs sold in North America, while Ford Motor of the US is sharing EV platforms with Germany’s Volkswagen.