Mitsubishi Motors admits test data cheat
Print Edition
MITSUBISHI Motors Corp admitted to manipulating test data to overstate the fuel economy of 625,000 cars sold in Japan, knocking its shares down more than 15 percent and wiping US$1.2 billion off its market value yesterday.
The automaker said it stopped making and selling its eK mini-wagons for the domestic market after Nissan Motor, which markets a similar model made by Mitsubishi, found a discrepancy in fuel efficiency test data.
Mitsubishi Motors said the fuel economy levels of models made for the local market were up to a tenth lower than stated in its test results. It said it manipulated those levels to gain a favorable reading for its fuel economy certification.
As global emissions regulations tighten, fuel economy has become a major factor for environment and cost-conscious buyers.
Tetsuro Aikawa, president of Japan’s sixth-largest automaker, bowed in apology at a news conference in Tokyo for what is the biggest scandal at Mitsubishi Motors since a damaging defect cover-up over a decade ago.
“We’d like to apologize for the issue,” Aikawa said. “The focus right now is to resolve this problem and prevent it from happening again ... it could be quite damaging.”
Shares in Mitsubishi Motors closed over 15 percent lower at 733 yen (US$7.07), the stock’s biggest one-day drop in almost 12 years. Shares in Nissan closed down 1 percent.
Mitsubishi Motors said the test manipulation involved 625,000 vehicles produced since mid-2013. These include its eK mini-wagon as well as 468,000 cars it made for Nissan, which markets them as the Dayz.
Nissan, which has sold 450,000 of its Mitsubishi-made Dayz since 2013, said the manufacturer admitted intentionally falsifying the data. It said it had no plans to change its ties with Mitsubishi Motors for now, and would not comment on how the issue might impact the development of updated models.
Mitsubishi said it would examine other models made for global markets to verify their fuel economy levels.
The company said that in calculating its cars’ fuel efficiency, it measured how much they slowed per second rather than the time it takes to slow by 10 kilometers per hour, as required under Japanese regulations. It also manipulated the equipment used to measure a car’s rolling resistance during fuel economy tests, and used a different testing system from other Japanese automakers.
Japan’s Transport Ministry ordered Mitsubishi Motors to submit a full report on the test manipulation within a week, and said it would decide on its response to that report by May 18.
“We are disappointed this has occurred and regret that an incident like this can also happen in Japan,” said Takao Onoda, director at the ministry’s recall division.
Mitsubishi Motors’ admission follows its revelation in 2000 that it covered up safety records and customer complaints.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
