Last year a huge scandal broke when carmaker Volkswagen admitted to cheating on its diesel emissions tests. Basically the results that were shown on the benchmarks differed greatly from that of real world testing. Now that it’s 2016, it looks like we might have a new scandal on our hands and this time it comes from Mitsubishi Motors.According to a report from Bloomberg, the carmaker has admitted to manipulating its test data regarding fuel economy for about 625,000 vehicles. The affected models include those that the company had supplied to Nissan, and because of that both companies are now in discussion about compensation and to see if overseas models have been affected as well.
The vehicles Mitsubishi made and supplied to Nissan are the Dayz and Dayz Roox, while Mitsubishi’s own eK Wagon and eK Space are also affected. The report from Bloomberg claims that the tests were manipulated through the use of varying the load above the vehicles’ wheels, which ultimately affected the air resistance and rolling resistance of the cars.
As a result of this admission, the company’s shares fell more than 15%. According to Tokyo-based analyst Seiji Sugiura who spoke to Bloomberg, “This may be different from Volkswagen’s issue, but the market has become very sensitive to such kind of news. It may have a similar impact in terms of sales and the company’s reputation.”
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