Mitsubishi shares fall again as fuel cheating scandal widens
26 Apr 2016
Shares in Japan's Mitsubishi Motors fell again today, after it emerged that an improper fuel-efficiency testing method had been used for decades, widening a data-cheating scandal that had plunged the company into crisis, The Times of India reported citing a syndicated feed.
According to the leading Nikkei business daily, the maker of the Outlander sport utility vehicle and Lancer cars had been supplying false results on more models than reported earlier.
In response, the Tokyo-listed shares fell 9.58 per cent to close at 434 yen.
The stock price of the firm had halved wiping off billion of dollars from its market valuation after the company's admission on Wednesday that it falsified efficiency data for hundreds of thousands of vehicles sold in Japan.
According to The Nikkei report the company's inaccurate testing could go back to the 1990s -- rather than just 2002 as the company had said -- and affect more models.
The Nikkei said on Saturday that Mitsubishi planned to compensate customers in a bid to limit the fallout.
The company had been ordered by Japan's transport ministry to reveal the results of an internal investigation on Wednesday.
Japan's sixth-largest automaker had lost half its market value around $3.9 billion after last week's admission that it overstated fuel economy of four domestic minivehicle models, including two produced for Nissan Motor Co.
Meanwhile, the automaker's admission that more models might be involved, had led to fears of ballooning compensation costs and fines. The US auto safety regulator was also seeking information, while Japanese authorities had raided one of its research and development facilities.
According to Mitsubishi, the committee of external experts would report the result of the investigation in three months.
Mitsubishi said, it had been compiling data for fuel economy tests using US standards, where higher-speed, highway driving was common, rather than Japanese standards, which were set to reflect city driving, where the need to stop more often meant more fuel was used.
