Friday, October 23, 2020

After 12 years and $9.55 billion, Mitsubishi suspended its project to design a passenger plane

Nikkei Asia:

Around the same time, Brazil's Embraer was also developing a new generation of passenger jets. Mitsubishi Heavy, with its army of skilled and highly educated engineers, had been confident about beating its rival to market. But Embraer ultimately won the race, delivering the first of its new jets in 2018.

Embraer was founded in 1969 and privatized in the 1990s. It has succeeded in speeding up its development timeline through a flexible approach to incorporating foreign talent.

Mired in challenges, Mitsubishi Heavy eventually began to follow suit. It recruited numerous engineers from a Canadian rival and elsewhere in 2018. But they have struggled to fit in, partly owing to pride on the part of the existing Japanese team.