Tokyo - Japanese transport ministry officials raided a Mitsubishi Motors office on Thursday following the shock admission by the company that it falsified fuel-efficiency tests in more than 600 000 vehicles.
The officials descended on a research and development centre in the city of Nagoya Thursday morning, and the government may slap the under-fire company with fines over the scandal, local media said.
“This has critically damaged consumers' trust and it won't be tolerated,” top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said on Thursday. “It's an extremely serious issue.”
Read: Cars 37% less efficient than claimed
Mitsubishi's Tokyo-listed shares looked set to plunge about 20 percent on Thursday, but were untraded owing to an overwhelming number of sell orders.
The firm plunged 15 percent on Wednesday before it confirmed reports about its misconduct, which saw unnamed employees rig tests to make cars seems more fuel-efficient than they were.
SA CARS NOT AFFECTED
Mitsubishi said it would halt production and sales of the affected vehicle models - 660cc kei mini-cars sold in Japan including some made for rival Nissan - and warned that the number of affected vehicles would likely rise. For now then, no South African vehicles are affected.
Mitsubishi’s embarrassing admission follows a massive pollution-cheating scandal at Volkswagen that erupted in September and which the German giant is still struggling to overcome.
Mitsubishi's top executive conceded on Wednesday that the brewing crisis would take a bite out of the carmaker's bottom line, as it widens its probe to cars that it sold overseas.
“This is not a simple problem and we need time” to assess the impact, Mitsubishi president Tetsuro Aikawa told a news briefing.
“But I'm sure there will be an impact. The damage will be big.”
HOW THE SCANDAL WAS UNCOVERED
The rigged figures were discovered after Nissan found inconsistencies in fuel-economy data and reported it.
Japan's number-two carmaker said it would halt sales of the affected mini-cars, but added that it had no immediate plans to change its business relationship with Mitsubishi.
The costs of the scandal are still incalculable but are expected to run into several billions of dollars as a result of fines and lawsuits.
AFP