The company will notify workers at the end of this month,
The company announced plans in late July to end production at the plant,
Mitsubishi Motors opened the Normal plant in 1988 as a joint venture with then-partner Chrysler, and took sole control in 1991.
The Nikkei reported on Saturday that if a potential buyer emerges by November, Mitsubishi Motors would drop plans for the job cuts and negotiate a sale.
At its peak in the early 2000s, the Normal plant built more than 200,000 cars a year. Last year, production of the Outlander Sport utility vehicle totaled just 69,178, according to Mitsubishi Motors.