Mitsubishi has been hit with a fresh scandal over it tampering with fuel economy data.
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The admission by the automaker that more of its models might not comply with standards set in Japan, has sparked many fears of ballooning fines and compensation costs.
An agency spokeswoman said the EPA has “instructed Mitsubishi to provide additional information” regarding vehicles sold in the U.S. “The agency will also be directing the company to conduct additional… testing for vehicles”, she said.
The rigged mileage tests revealed last week involved 157,000 of its eK wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, and 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for auto manufacturer Nissan.
“Customers bought our cars based on incorrect fuel-economy data”, said Mitsubishi president Tetsuro Aikawa during a press conference.
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors on Tuesday admitted that it has falsified some fuel consumption tests since 1991.
Aikawa said so much was unknown that it’s uncertain what action the company will take.
That relevation drove speculation that its misconduct also stretched to vehicles sold overseas, and would send the number of affected vehicles soaring from the more than 600,000 cars – all sold in Japan – that were already known about.
Nakao added that repeatedly raised internal fuel economy targets during the development of the affected models might have contributed to the cheating.
Roughly 15 years ago, Mitsubishi Motors was embroiled in another scandal for systematically covering up customer complaints for more than two decades.
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Last year United Kingdom buyers purchased 22,693 new Mitsubishi cars, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), representing 0.9pc of the British vehicle market. Wrongdoing by the Japanese automaker and Volkswagen AG has prompted rising scrutiny of the way carmakers test for and label the fuel economy and exhaust emissions of their vehicles. However, the other Mitsubishi firms say helping the vehicle maker this time would be hard, as they are dealing with their own financial issues.
