Mitsubishi admits using improper fuel tests since 1991

Tokyo — Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors said on Tuesday it has been using dodgy fuel-efficiency testing for 25 years and admitted it has no idea of the scale of the cheating that has plunged it into crisis.

The latest twist may drive speculation that its misconduct stretched to vehicles sold overseas, and send the number of affected vehicles soaring from the more than 600,000 already known about.

The embarrassing revelations have raised questions about Mitsubishi’s future — its Tokyo-listed shares have plummeted by about half since the story broke on Wednesday with billions of dollars wiped off the company’s market value. It has also pointed to a broader problem in the global car industry as Volkswagen struggles with a huge emissions scandal and regulators probe other automakers’ pollution and fuel-efficiency standards.

“For the domestic market, we have been using that method since 1991,” Mitsubishi vice president Ryugo Nakao told a Tokyo news briefing on Tuesday.

“But we don’t know the number of models” affected in total, he added.

The company, which said Tuesday it was appointing an outside panel of experts to investigate the problems, previously said its flawed testing dated back to 2002.

Mitsubishi officials said the automaker did not change its fuelefficiency testing method when the Japanese government ordered an updated system years ago.

Last week, Mitsubishi also admitted unnamed employees manipulated testing figures to make some of its cars seem more fuelefficient than they were in reality.

Tetsuro Aikawa, the company’s president, has acknowledged that the crisis would damage firm finances and told Tuesday’s briefing: “I can only apologise.”