Overnight, Japanese rival Suzuki came under the microscope after it found “discrepancies” in its fuel and emissions testing.
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Shares in Suzuki ended down 9.4% after the company said it had used improper tests but before it briefed media.
Last week, Mitsubishi Motors said it plans to sell a 34 percent controlling stake to Nissan Motor for about $2.2 billion.
The company said the testing methods used were different from those required by Japanese rules, but that proper testing of the vehicles showed no need to amend the fuel economy data.
The president and vice president of Mitsubishi Motor Corp. announced their resignations Wednesday after the company admitted it falsified fuel economy tests.
The company has to make a report on its testing methods at the transport ministry and Suzuki chairman Osamu Suzuki will report to the ministry.
Shares in Suzuki, Japan’s fourth-largest automaker by sales, were down 11 percent in afternoon trade.
Maruti Suzuki has asserted that the system of conducting vehicle mileage tests in India is distinct from the one in Japan.
Suzuki re-tested 16 vehicles for fuel efficiency following a request by Japan’s transport ministry. Mitsubishi Motors has said it manipulated data related to those cars and has been investigating use of improper testing of other models dating back to 1991.
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“[President] Tetsuro Aikawa. has offered to resign from the post of president as of June 24 because the company caused serious problems for customers and stakeholders”, Mitsubishi said in a statement. This is the latest in the mileage scandal that hit the country’s carmakers when Mitsubishi Motors Corp. admitted to falsifying fuel economy tests in April. The stock had earlier tumbled more than 15%, the biggest decline in more than seven years.
