Mitsubishi's fuel economy mess in Japan isn't getting any better. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Japanese automaker continued to improperly test the fuel economy of their vehicles a month after admitting that it had manipulated fuel economy figures on their Kei cars. This accusation comes from a new report from Japan's transport ministry.
“We cannot help but feel concerned that these points haven’t been improved,” said Naoki Fujii, head of the road transport bureau at the ministry.
Japan's transport ministry requires the country's automakers to perform five road tests and take the average of median values. In their report, the ministry explained to Mitsubishi workers how to properly do the test. But workers continued to manipulate the tests. Some examples listed in the report include,
- Workers took the average of the best mileage numbers, not the median numbers of the five tests
- Mitsubishi didn't tell workers doing the tests that you were only to do five
Mitsubishi Motors chief executive Osamu Masuko said they are taking the continued problems seriously and laid blame at the “lack of capability” at the division responsible for the testing.
Of course, this latest allegation puts some questions to Nissan planned acquisition of a controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors. The deal - worth $2.2 billion - was expected to be finalized by the end of October. Now, it has been pushed back to the end of the year. Nissan's due diligence investigation is taking longer than expected.
Source: The Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
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