Add a US investigation to Mitsubishi’s woes.
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The company may have to answer to USA regulators as well: The EPA, along with the California Air Resources Board, has ordered the carmaker to conduct additional emissions tests on vehicles sold in the U.S.
EPA spokeswoman Laura Allen said Tuesday the agency has instructed Mitsubishi to “provide additional information regarding their US vehicles”.
Mitsubishi Motors North America sold 95,342 vehicles the USA last year, a 22.8% uptick over 2014.
While at this stage is appears that only Japanese-market offerings are likely to be affected, the company revealed that it’s fuel consumption figures may not have been tested accurately reaching as far back as 1991. However, in pockets of the company, engineers continued to use the old approach which introduces inconsistent standards in the calculation of fuel mileage.
The maker of the Outlander sport utility vehicle said it could not make financial forecasts for the current fiscal year to March 2017 in light of the potential damage from the scandal, as it faces the possibility of big fines, lawsuits and compensation costs.
It is unclear what top executives knew about the dodgy testing and data manipulation, but Aikawa has said he did not become aware of the problem until recently.
“I’m taking this as a case that could affect our company’s existence”, he said.
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Shares in Mitsubishi, Japan’s sixth-largest automaker, closed down nearly 3 percent on Wednesday and have lost more than half their value since news of the scandal broke a week ago.
