The Tokyo-based company said the inaccurate tests involved 157,000 of its own-brand eK Wagon and eK Space light passenger cars, and 468,000 Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan.
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Mitsubishi Motor Corporation has become the latest carmaker to become embroiled in a testing scandal, after the company admitted to manipulating data to make 625,000 vehicles appear more fuel-efficient. “Nissan also has stopped sales of the applicable cars and will discuss compensation regarding this issue”.
Japanese automakers Mitsubishi Motors has admitted that they manipulated fuel-economy data in almost 6 lakh cars.
Nissan, which sells rebadged variants of the eK, discovered the discrepancy, which Mitsubishi acknowledged was due to deliberate test manipulation in a statement released Wednesday morning. Mitsubishi said it would examine other models made for global markets to verify their fuel economy levels. It is possible that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will monitor Mitsubishi vehicles more closely in the U.S., although they will not be a priority due to their limited numbers.
Mitsubishi says it has found evidence that employees intentionally falsified fuel mileage test data for several models of vehicle. All cars affected are mini cars, or “kei cars”, as Japan calls them. Other company executives bowed in apology as well.
Production and sales for all affected models has been halted. Mitsubishi’s president also said that he felt responsible although he had not known about these problems. Countries have different rules for fuel-economy testing.
Bloomberg reported that after the revelations, the company shares fell 15 percent in Tokyo, which represents the biggest decline in Mitsubishi stock in over a decade. The Japanese government said the case was being treated as “extremely serious” and gave the company until April 27 to put together a report on the scandal.
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Korean carmakers Hyundai and Kia agreed to pay a combined $100 million fine in the U.S.in 2014 for overstating fuel economy estimates for many of their vehicles.
