Japan’s Mitsubishi rigged fuel consumption tests in 625,000 cars

LONDON (ICIS)–Japan’s automobile major Mitsubishi admitted on Wednesday falsifying fuel consumption testing data on 625,000 of its vehicles, sending the company’s shares down 15% to yen (Y) 733 by 10.30 GMT.

Mitsubishi said two of its vehicle models – eK Wagon and eK Space – were affected, but the falsified tests would also affect France’s major Renault, whose subsidiary Nissan Motors has since 2013 been supplied with an additional two models manufactured by Mitsubishi – Dayz and Dayz Roox.

“Up until the end of March 2016, MMC [Mitsubishi] has sold 157,000 units of the eK Wagon and eK Space and supplied 468,000 units of the Dayz and Dayz Roox to NM [Nissan],” said the company.

“[Regarding fuel consumption tests] MMC conducted testing improperly to present better fuel consumption rates than the actual rates; and [it was found out] that the testing method was also different from the one required by Japanese law. We express deep apologies to all of our customers and stakeholders for this issue.”

Mitsubishi added it had stopped production and sales of the cars affected, a measure also taken by Nissan which is discussing with its supplier potential compensation measures.

“During our internal investigation, we have found that the testing method which was different from the one required by Japanese law has been applied to other models manufactured by MMC for the Japanese domestic market,” said Mitsubishi.

“Taking into account the seriousness of these issues, we will also conduct an investigation into products manufactured for overseas markets. In order to conduct an investigation into these issues objectively and thoroughly, we plan to set up a committee consisting of only external experts.”

In September 2015, German automobile major admitted it had manipulated software in millions of cars in the US in order to pass emissions tests, in a crisis which still lingers and has seen the manufacturer lose market share.  

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