Shareholders were less than happy at the meeting

The firm, the only Japanese auto giant in the red, announced its new leader at a shareholder meeting in Tokyo.

The meeting was unusually stormy by Japanese standards, with shareholders raising their voices to scold executives and warn of crisis ahead.

Reports say Mitsubishi group firms are readying a $2.3bn (�1.29bn) bail-out.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper said that Toyota, the richest and most successful of Japan's auto companies, had been approached to help.

But both Toyota and Mitsubishi denied the story.

Anger

Whatever the shape of the new plan, shareholders lost no time in expressing their displeasure.

"We came here worrying that Mitsubishi Motors might disappear," one shouted.

"I feel we were betrayed."

Rolf Eckrodt was DaimlerChrysler's man at Mitsubishi

The company's troubles stem from deep debts and sliding sales - themselves partly caused by repeated problems with defects.

Four years ago, the firm was forced to admit to covering up a range of problems.

And police are still investigating the death of a housewife, who was crushed by a wheel which fell off a Mitsubishi truck in 2002, to see whether defects were the cause.

US and Europe

But much of the car maker's current problems arose from a disastrous push into the US youth market where indiscriminate offers of credit - along with discounts for rental firms and companies - initially helped lift its market share.

But soon it all came down like a house of cards as a growing number of their young customers defaulted on their loans.

As soon as Mitsubishi tightened the purse strings, sales took a dive - down 25% in the US during 2003.

Bad news indeed, this, given that the American market accounts for about a third of Mitsubishi Motors' sales.

In Europe, Mitsubishi Motors has fared rather better, though.

Last month, it reported its first profits yet in its European history of more than 30 years.

Changeover

The new man at the top of Mitsubishi, the company said, is to be Yoichiro Okazaki, currently head of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Rolf Eckrodt, Mitsubishi's previous executive, resigned on Monday.

He had been appointed by DaimlerChrysler, owner of 37% of Mitsubishi Motors.

The German-US giant is itself in some disarray following the change of strategy at Mitsubishi.

After pouring money into the Japanese firm to help cover its losses and underwrite its debts, the Stuttgart-based company gave up a week ago.

Another collaborator, Hyundai, has also warned it plans to scale back its partnership with DaimlerChrysler.

The architect of the Asia strategy, DaimlerChrysler's chief executive Juergen Schrempp, survived a supervisory board meeting on Thursday.