Mitsubishi also manufactures and sells the mini-cars to Nissan which it markets as the Nissan Dayz and Dayz Roox.
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While all the cars were sold on the Asian market, the company said it would conduct an investigation into products sold elsewhere as part of its response.
Mitsubishi, which apologised on Wednesday, says it will make a honest effort to make amends to vehicle owners. Company executives called the manipulation of tests on the microcar, called the eK, “intentional”.
Mitsubishi Motors joins the long list of carmakers that have misused testing and given false economy figures.
“We immediately brought the discrepancy to the attention of Mitsubishi as they are responsible for the development and homologation of the vehicles”.
Production and sales of all affected models were halted, according to the companies.
Mitsubishi conducted an internal investigation and found that tyre pressure data was falsified to make mileage appear better than it actually was.
Between the Mitsubishi- and Nissan-badged versions of the model, close to 1 million vehicles produced since mid-2013 are effected.
Corrections & clarifications: A previous version of this story misstated the nature of the data Mitsubishi Motors said its staff falsified. “But why they would resort to fraud to do this is still unclear”, Mr Aikawa said.
Nearly 470,000 vehicles that Mitsubishi made for Nissan were affected and the issue was uncovered after Nissan found inconsistencies.
In 2014 South Korean auto makers Hyundai and its affiliate, Kia, agreed to pay $350m in U.S. penalties for overstating their vehicles’ fuel economy ratings.
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At that time, Mitsubishi was struggling to launch a turnaround as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, hit by a lack of cash and a series of huge recalls linked to deadly defects. Volkswagen saw global sales for all its brands slip 0.2 percent in March as the company works to overcome the scandal.
