Tokyo: Mitsubishi Motors, Japan’s
sixth largest automaker has admitted and apologized for falsifying fuel economy
test data in more than 600,000 vehicles.
The company said that
it manipulated the fuel economy test data to make emissions levels look more
favorable. Tetsuro Aikawa, President of Japan’s sixth-largest car maker by
market value, bowed in apology at a news conference in Tokyo on Wednesday for
what is the biggest scandal at Mitsubishi Motors since a defect cover-up more
than a decade ago.
“We express deep
apologies to all of our customers and stakeholders for this issue,”
Aikawa said in a news conference on Wednesday, bowing deeply. “I feel the
difficulty of ensuring thorough awareness about compliance among all
employees,” he further said.
The fuel-economy and
testing problems likely will hurt Mitsubishi’s profit Aikawa said. Its earnings
had been rising amid robust global auto demand. The company is reviewing
whether any cars sold outside Japan are affected.
The company said the
test manipulation involved 625,000 vehicles produced since mid-2013. These
include its eK mini-wagon as well as 468,000 similar cars it made for Nissan
Motor. The problem was found after Nissan pointed out inconsistencies in data,
the company said.
Mitsubishi conducted
an internal investigation and found that the tyre pressure data was falsified
to make mileage appear better than it actually was.
Mitsubishi Motors is
the first Japanese car maker to report misconduct involving fuel economy tests
since Volkswagen was discovered last year to have cheated in diesel emissions
tests in the United States and elsewhere.
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