Mitsubishi Motors has confessed falsifying fuel economy test data for more than 600,000 vehicles sold in Japan, putting its shares down to more than 15 percent and cutting down $1.2 billion from its market value, the stock’s biggest day drop in almost 12 years, reports Reuters.
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The false data was discovered when Nissan pointed out inconsistencies in the ways that vehicles had been tested.
Tetsuro Aikawa, Mitsubishi company president, said to reporters in an interview, “The wrongdoing was intentional”.
Mr. Aikawa said tire pressure readings were falsified to make the fuel economy appear better than it was, although he said he was unaware of what was taking place.
Some 625,000 vehicles were involved in the rigged testing, which MMC said was also different in methodology from the tests required by Japanese law.
An auto analyst in Tokyo estimated that the cheating could end up costing Mitsubishi over 50 billion yen or $450 million, which would include payments back to consumers, the replacement parts costs and compensation to Nissan. In response to Nissan’s request, Mitsubishi admitted that data had been intentionally manipulated in its fuel economy testing process for certification.
The government has ordered Mitsubishi to submit a full report on the inaccurate tests by April 27.
On Wednesday, the Japanese automaker apologized to its customers because several vehicle models were sold with a fake fuel mileage data.
This scandal follows the Japanese automaker’s massive recall cover-up 15 years ago, stated the article.
Mitsubishi’s ‘mini cars, ‘ like its eK Wagon, were marketed mainly for their good mileage. All cars affected are mini cars, or “kei cars”, as Japan calls them.
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Notably, in 2014, Korean manufacturers Hyundai and Kia had agreed to pay $350m in penalties for overstating their vehicles’ fuel economy ratings. Its announcement said it would stop manufacturing those cars immediately and would set up an independent panel to determine how all this cheating and lying happened.
