Friday May 21, 9:19 AM EDT By Chang-Ran Kim, Asia auto correspondent TOKYO (Reuters) - Mitsubishi Motors Corp said on Friday it had secured $4 billion in emergency rescue funds to shore up its balance sheet and fix its operations, hit hard by a dismal performance in the crucial U.S. market. Japan's fourth-largest car maker vowed a return to profit by the business year starting next April through a restructuring that will see it close a plant in Japan and cut its non-factory workforce by 30 percent, or 7,600 people, in three years. "This plan is our last chance for survival as an auto maker," Chief Executive Yoichiro Okazaki told a news conference. Despite the plan, delayed for three weeks after major shareholder DaimlerChrysler backed out, MMC's future remains uncertain as it struggles to repair its battered brand image and convince people to buy its cars. Having tried to clean up its act after a recall scandal in 2000, MMC suffered another setback on Thursday when its truck affiliate admitted to concealing information about potentially dangerous defects in some trucks. Analysts said that while further cost cuts were obvious steps, the outlook for the auto maker was difficult to assess. "At the end of the day, this is a car company with a terrible reputation in terms of quality, a dissatisfied dealer base especially in the U.S., and it lacks a coherent strategy," said Marc Desmidt, head of Japanese equities at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. "It remains to be seen if they can put one together." ENOUGH MONEY? In the year that ended in March -- meant to be the final year of restructuring under DaimlerChrysler's guidance -- MMC posted a net loss of 215 billion yen ($1.9 billion), much worse than the 72 billion yen forecast in February, due to big losses caused by a policy of handing out easy car loans in the United States. The loss ballooned because MMC wrote down falls in the value of its assets before the law requires it to do so in 2005. It forecast another big loss of 230 billion yen this year, but vowed to turn a small profit next year. Last year, it booked a record net profit of 37.4 billion yen. MMC's fate contrasts sharply with the fortunes of domestic rival Nissan Motor Co, which began a revival process around the same time four years ago under France's Renault Nissan is now the world's most profitable car maker, having eliminated its debt and built a strong brand. MMC Chief Financial Officer Keiichiro Hashimoto, who resigns in June as part of a planned overhaul of management, said the 450 billion yen rescue package would be enough for its revitalization plan. But others were less sure. "The question that needs to be asked now is that if DaimlerChrysler thought they needed 700 to 800 billion yen just a month ago and this plan calls for 450 billion, then where's the difference in opinion?" said Kurt Sanger, auto analyst at ING. GROUP SUPPORT Much of the 450 billion yen bailout will be paid for by its main shareholders in the Mitsubishi group -- Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corp and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM) -- which will buy a combined 120 billion yen in preferred shares. J.P. Morgan Chase will buy another 100 billion yen of preferred shares, which do not carry voting rights. BTM and Mitsubishi Trust & Banking Corp, both part of the Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group, will swap a combined 130 billion yen of debt owed by MMC into equity. Phoenix Capital, a Tokyo-based investment fund with close ties to the Mitsubishi group, is expected to buy up to 100 billion yen in common stock for 100 yen a share -- compared with 405 yen paid by DaimlerChrysler four years ago. If Phoenix takes 100 billion yen worth, it would become MMC's top shareholder with around 40 percent, while DaimlerChrysler's stake would fall to around 22 to 23 percent from 37 percent, Hashimoto said. MMC said it would continue its "mutually beneficial" engine and platform-sharing projects with the German-American firm. DaimlerChrysler repeated it would keep its remaining stake. PRODUCTION OVERHAUL MMC said it would use 130 billion yen of the funds to reduce its debts, and the rest to restructure its operations. It said it would shrink the number of vehicle platforms to six from 15 by 2010, focusing its energy on vehicles based on successful models like the Pajero sport utility vehicle and Lancer Evolution sports car. It would aim to rely less on the Japanese and U.S. markets, boosting operations in China and other parts of Asia. To improve efficiency and cut costs, it would close its 27-year-old Okazaki plant in central Japan, leaving just two domestic car factories. In the United States, MMC said output capacity will also be "adjusted," adding it would look into forming strategic alliances with "external partners." It did not elaborate. MMC will also close its engine plant in Australia in the 2005/06 business year, while shrinking production capacity at its car plant in Adelaide by more than half to 30,000 units a year. MMC's shares ended up 2.56 percent at 240 yen on Thursday, compared with a 1.92 percent rise in the Nikkei average. ©2004 Reuters Limited. *discus