Mitsubishi Motors’ domestic orders for its vehicles have halved since the Japanese automaker revealed last week that it had been falsifying fuel efficiency tests.
Company president Tetsuro Aikawa said the situation was “very serious” but said he had no plans to resign immediately.
Tetsuro Aikawa said he did not know if sales abroad had been affected yet.
Mitsubishi shares have more than halved since the scandal broke.
Investors are worried that Mitsubishi Motors – Japan’s sixth-largest automaker – will face fines and compensation claims.
Last week, Mitsubishi admitted that it had falsified fuel economy data for four “minicar” models sold only in Japan.
The inaccurate mileage tests involved 157,000 of its eK wagon and eK Space, and 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan. All were sold in Japan only.
On April 26, Mitsubishi admitted to manipulating test data for the past 25 years, far longer than initially thought.
The company’s board has formed a panel to investigate the case, and US regulators have also launched an investigation into whether car models complied with their fuel economy rules.
At a news conference on April 27, Mitsubishi Motors said that because of uncertainty about the potential damage to its brand it could not make forecasts for the financial year 2016-2017.
However, Tetsuro Aikawa was able to announce better-than-expected results for the year ending in March 2016.
Mitsubishi Motors reported that its operating profit rose 1.8% to 138.4 billion yen ($1.2 billion) while revenue increased by 4% to 2.27 trillion yen.
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors has admitted to rigging some fuel consumption tests since 1991.
The admission follows last week’s revelation that Mitsubishi had falsified fuel economy data for more than 600,000 vehicles sold in Japan.
Mitsubishi Motors VP Ryugo Nakao said at a press conference in Tokyo on April 26: “For the domestic market, we have been using that method since 1991.”
The number of models affected was not yet known, Ryugo Nakao added.
The company’s president, Tetsuro Aikawa, said an inquiry was continuing, suggesting that more irregularities could be found.
Photo Getty Images
“We don’t know the whole picture and we are in the process of trying to determine that. I feel a great responsibility,” he said.
Mitsubishi hares fell a further 10% in Tokyo on April 26, bringing the slide since the scandal erupted to almost 50%.
Tetsuro Aikawa said he did not know why employees resorted to falsifying fuel economy tests to make mileage figures seem better.
The automaker had repeatedly promised to come clean after a huge scandal 15 years ago that involved a systematic cover-up of vehicle defects.
The inaccurate mileage tests revealed last week involved 157,000 of its eK wagon and eK Space, and 468,000 Dayz and Dayz Roox vehicles produced for Nissan. All were sold in Japan only.
The main attraction of the “minicars”, which have tiny 600cc engines – not much bigger than a large motorcycle – is their frugal fuel consumption and their tax breaks.
Mileage fraud breaks Japan’s fuel efficiency laws and possible penalties were unclear due to the uncertainties about the outcome of an investigation, the transport ministry said.
Mitsubishi has set up a panel of three external lawyers report on the scandal within three months.
Production and sales of all the models in question have been halted.
A Mitsubishi Motors office in Japan has been raided by authorities following the revelation that the automaker had falsified its fuel economy data.
The officials searched Mitsubishi’s plant in Okazaki.
Mitsubishi has admitted that employees altered data to flatter mileage rates on more than 600,000 vehicles.
A government spokesman said they were treating it as an “extremely serious case” and that it had ordered Mitsubishi to submit a full report.
The authorities have set April 27 as the deadline for Mitsubishi Motors to hand over the report on the inaccurate testing.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said: “Based on [the findings from] the raid, and a report from the company, we would like to reveal the extent of the inaccuracies as soon as possible.
“We will deal with the situation in a strict manner and would like to make sure of the safety of cars.”
The Okazaki office is Mitsubishi’s second largest plant in Japan and is a manufacturing hub as well as a research facility.
The inaccurate tests involved 157,000 of Mitsubisi’s own cars and 468,000 vehicles produced for Nissan.
The issue affected models including Mitsubishi’s ek Wagon and eK Space, as well as Nissan’s Dayz and Dayz Roox.
All are “mini-cars” with 660cc petrol engines and are popular in Japan but have found little success in other markets.
Shares of Mitsubishi Motors were not traded on April 21 as no buyers could be found to match investors wanting to sell.
Instead, the Tokyo Stock Exchange set an indicated closing price of 583 yen, a 20% drop from yesterday’s close of 733 yen.
Shares in Mitsubishi had already fallen 15% on April 20, when news of the falsified data first emerged.
Mitsubishi had struggled for years to regain consumer trust after a defects scandal in the early 2000s that covered up problems such as failing brakes, faulty clutches and fuel tanks that fell off vehicles.
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