For 25 years, Mitsubishi has been testing cars against antiquated fuel consumption testing standards.
The fuel economy scandal that broke late last week has grown even deeper with Mitsubishi this time admitting to have practiced similar manipulation techniques as far back as 1991.
During last week’s admission of guilt in which company president Tetsuro Aikawa disclosing the very likely possibility of there being more cars out there with incorrect fuel consumption figures, this new information came to light.
In a statement made yesterday, Mitsubishi said that an external investigation committee had been established to determine the extent of the deception. The committee itself consists of former superintending prosecutor at the Tokyo High Prosecutors Office, KeiiChi Watanabe, along with Yoshiro Sakata and Genta Yoshino.
They would be granted access to all related documents and data stretching back at least 25 years to discover the roots of this issue as well as individuals responsible for instituting the practice as well as those who have perpetuated up until now. Once that due process is complete, the committee would have to draw up preventive measures.
Last week’s breaking story revealed more than 625,000 vehicles were affected in Japan by the fuel consumption test manipulation, but now that the sheer duration of the falsification has been revealed, potentially many more vehicles would have to be accounted for.
There has been no word yet about what Mitsubishi would do, or of any legal repercussions to be levelled against them. That said, Mitsubishi’s stock had fallen by almost 50 percent in the time since the story had broke.
So far, it seems, the affected cars are still only confined to its small-car range that was only sold in the Japanese domestic market, including the eK wagon, eK Space. These cars are also sold as the Nissan Dayz, and Nissan Dayz Roox – it was Nissan that discovered the fuel consumption discrepancies that lead up to last week’s admission of guilt.
