Mitsubishi says the fuel economy scandal that unfolded last week could have far reaching implications – its president says that the issue could threaten the very survival of the automaker, Bloomberg reports.
“I’m taking this as a case that could affect our company’s existence. My mission is to solve the issue,” Mitsubishi Motors president Tetsuro Aikawa told reporters on Tuesday.
Last week, the drama began when the company revealed that it had been using methods not compliant with Japanese standards to test for fuel economy since 2002. The cars that brought the issues to the forefront were the Mitsubishi eK Wagon and eK Space as well as the Nissan Dayz and Dayz Roox, which the automaker has been manufacturing and supplying to Nissan since June 2013.
Its shares have plunged, and the fuel economy of more models are expected to be investigated. Last week, one of its offices was raided by government officials. In the United States, the automaker has been instructed by the EPA to supply the regulatory body with additional information of its US models, and has also been ordered to conduct additional testing.
Its alliance with Nissan, which was the party that uncovered the fuel economy discrepancies when working on development for the next generation of the minicars, is also on thin ice. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn said earlier in the week that Nissan will decide on the future of the partnership after further verification.
Mitsubishi disclosed that it remains uncertain as to how many vehicles have been subjected to the improper test methods. It has stated that it will be looking into other models apart from the four kei cars and provide a separate report once findings have been obtained.
The country’s transport minister, Keiichi Ishii, has stated that the manipulation of fuel-efficiency tests by Mitsubishi is an “extremely serious” case. Japan says it will be setting up a task force to come up with concrete measures so as to prevent irregularities in vehicle testing. The Mitsubishi board, meanwhile, has formed a panel of three ex-prosecutors to investigate the case for about three months.
It’s not the first time MMC has had to deal with a scandal. About a decade ago, the automaker almost came to the brink of collapse following a defects scandal, in which it emerged it had been systematically covering up problems and issues over decades. The latest implosion will likely hit the company hard, as fuel economy has been a selling point for the automaker.
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How come no kolos shop comments yet? Oh right, its their jepunis overlords so cannot persoal.
If Mitsubishi has been lying to the world since 2002, this means also, they lied to Proton as well. Most likely, they have been lying to Proton from the beginning itself
Unfortunately, the bodohs in Proton could not see the lies as they were more interested in $$$$$$ and milking the Malaysian public.
Instead of protecting the Malaysian public and doing due diligence on the Mitsubishi and testing their claims, Proton directors were greedy and quickly wanted to come out with the first Saga.
Pity Malaysians, always cheated.
Pity MY pipu or pity the whole wide world? Which has more perspective?
jom tidur balik bang. Buat apa bangun? Tongkat masih ada
Orang pakai tongkat jalan pun tak sesedih macam orang yang sujud pakai tangan & lutut.
Yep end of the line for Mitsubishi since it does not have deep pockets like VW. The Evo will be an ancient relic!
If EVO platform gip to P1, all sins r forgiven
Just die, settle all the upcoming lawsuits…. I read mitsubishi motors is actually less than 10% of the parent company mitsubishi corp…. Really no loss… I imagin it becoming the proton of japan sort of
if this is VW dieselgate article people will bash like no tomorrow already. now jepunis also did same thing, all lost their genitals. such a joke.
Bashers din have bolas to begin with ;-)
MMC already famous for sweeping bad stuff under carpet. The previous incident already had their Jap production shutdown just for investigation.
bila masa plak MMC nie ada parent company?? yg pegang biggest preference share diorang pn MHI..MMC pon spun off dri MHI..MFTBC plak spun off dri MMC..lets see who’s next..
Does that mean if we wait few more months, the outlander will be sold at a cheaper price?
There is a very real chance that Mitsubishi Motors could go bankrupt after this latest scandal. But I doubt the company will close down, a more realistic scenario would be a partial sale of Mitsubishi Motors assets to foreign companies.
Also, the Japanese government must reveal all of the affected Mitsubishi models, even those old ones from the early 90s. There’s a chance that overseas/ exported models could’ve been affected as well. And if so, some of the Mitsubishi-based Protons could be among them. Let us not forget, in the previous scandal, our Perdana V6 was recalled as part of Mitsubishi’s global recall. Also, if it’s indeed true that some older Proton models were affected, it remains to be seen what Mitsubishi Motors will do in the name of compensation.
It’s weird that Mitsubishi’s car division is at its lowest in decades when Mitsubishi’s aircraft division is at its highest. Just a few days back, Mitsubishi’s new X-2 Shinshin stealth fighter took off, it’s the first major Japanese-designed fighter since… the A6M Zero in WW2 ? Something’s not right here.