It also admitted to using an unapproved testing method to collect fuel-economy-related data on certain vehicles in Japan since 1991.
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Over the past week, Mitsubishi said employees manipulated data to make fuel economy look better for four auto models sold in Japan.
It is also possible, that many more models, in addition to the four minicars, may have used fuel tests that did not comply with the regulations. Mitsubishi Motors doesn’t know how many models have been tested improperly since 1991, Nakao said. “We should have switched, but it turns out we didn’t”, he said. The company had repeatedly raised internal fuel economy targets during the development of the affected models. “Judging by what the investigations have shown so far, it seems there was pressure”, he told reporters. Aikawa said he was unaware of the issues until Nissan brought it up.
The U.S. government wants Mitsubishi Motors to do more real-world tests on its cars to verify gas mileage estimates. We knew about 600,000 vehicles being affected, but the length of this bad testing is going to see that number rocket.
In a separate briefing, the ministry said the carmaker’s report Tuesday was insufficient and that it should file a new one by May 11.
Other automakers have been penalized in recent years for putting a rosy spin on fuel economy figures.
Different countries require different methodologies when testing the fuel economy of vehicles intended for sale in their markets.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Mitsubishi Motors said that because of uncertainty about the potential damage to its brand it could not make forecasts for the financial year 2016-17. It was bailed out by other Mitsubishi Group companies.
The problem, according to Mitsubishi, is that the company improperly determined coast-down measurements for vehicles, which influences how their economy is measured during laboratory tests.
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Japan has been shaken by scandals at top-name companies, including electronics company Toshiba, which had doctored accounting books for years, and medical equipment company Olympus, which acknowledged it had covered up massive losses.
