Mitsubishi Motors admits manipulating fuel economy tests
Fri 22 April 2016
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Mitsubishi Motors has admitted that it falsified fuel economy data for more than 600,000 vehicles sold in Japan. The company says that tyre pressure figures were falsified by employees to improve fuel efficiency figures.
According to a BBC report, almost 470,000 vehicles that Mitsubishi made for Nissan were affected and the issue was uncovered after Nissan found inconsistencies. Shares in Mitsubishi have fallen by around 50% since the company made the admission.
Mitsubishi Motors President Tetsuro Aikawa said at a press conference in Tokyo: "The wrongdoing was intentional. It is clear the falsification was done to make the mileage look better. But why they would resort to fraud to do this is still unclear".
The inaccurate tests involved 157,000 of its own cars and 468,000 vehicles produced for Nissan. The issue affected models including Mitsubishi's ek Wagon and eK Space, as well as Nissan's Dayz and Dayz Roox. The models affected were 'mini cars' with 660cc petrol engines which are popular in Japan but have found little success in other markets.
Mitsubishi Motors UK division said there was no evidence that any models sold in the UK or Europe were affected.
The company is Japan's sixth-largest car maker and sold more than one million vehicles last year, but has less than 1% of the UK market.
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