Some 625,000 vehicles were involved in the rigged testing, which MMC said was also different in methodology from the tests required by Japanese law.
Advertisement
After Mitsubishi admitted falsifying fuel economy test data, the automaker’s share suffered a big 15 percent drop.
Mitsubishi sold about 157,000 eK Wagons and eK Spaces – mini-car models developed with smaller engines for greater fuel efficiency – and supplied another 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox models to fellow Japanese automaker Nissan. “In the course of our internal investigation upon this request, MMC learned of the improper conduct that MMC used the running resistance value for testing which provided more advantageous fuel consumption rates than the actual rates”, announced Mitsubishi.
“Based on [the findings from] the raid, and a report from the company, we would like to reveal the extent of the inaccuracies as soon as possible”, said Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary.
At a media briefing in Tokyo on April 20, Mitsubishi Motors president Tetsuro Aikawa, together with company bosses, appeared dismayed over the issue. Japan’s transport ministry has asked Mitsubishi to submit a detailed report.
The false data was discovered when Nissan pointed out inconsistencies in the ways that vehicles had been tested.
So far, the issue is only known to apply to the miniature kei cars in Japan, and it’s not believed that vehicles in markets outside of the country have been affected.
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. Some models that were made for Nissan were also included.
This latest embarrassment involving an auto company comes after last year’s cheating scandal involving Volkswagen, which manipulated diesel emission tests on their vehicles.
The company said it would halt production on those models and also launch a probe into vehicle models sold overseas.
Advertisement
However, shares in Mitsubishi fell by 15 per cent on Wednesday when the news of the falsified data emerged, and Mitsubishi shares have not been traded Thursday as no buyers could be found.
