Mitsubishi Motors Corp admitted to manipulating test data to overstate the fuel economy of 625,000 cars sold in Japan. 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 environmental- and cost-conscious buyers.
Tetsuro Aikawa, the 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.”
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 relationship 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 kms (6.2 miles) 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.
Mitsubishi Motors’ admission follows its revelation in 2000 that it covered up safety records and customer complaints. Four years later it admitted to broader problems going back decades. It was Japan’s worst automotive recall scandal at the time.
Mitsubishi Motors, which has annual sales of just over 1 million cars, is the first Japanese automaker to report misconduct involving fuel economy tests since Volkswagen was discovered last year to have cheated diesel emissions tests in the United States and elsewhere.