Mitsubishi Motors admits to falsifying fuel economy test results of cars sold in Japan

Company bosses, including president Tetsuro Aikawa, faced startled media during a briefing in Tokyo.

“The misconduct was reported to Japan's transportation ministry,” said Aikawa, after the company asserted that it has stopped making and selling the vehicles and has brought together an independent panel to investigate.

Lance Bradley, UK managing director of Mitsubishi Motors, said there was no evidence that any models sold in the UK or Europe were affected.

The inaccurate tests involved 157,000 of its own brand light passenger cars and 468,000 vehicles produced for Nissan.

Nissan was the one to point out inconsistencies in emissions data, which led Mitsubishi conducted an internal investigation, resulting in falsified figures.

Following the announcement, the company’s shares fell by more than 15% their biggest one-day fall in nearly 12 years.

Mitsubishi is the third company to join the emission scandal, after in 2014 Hyundai (and its affiliate, Kia) overstated their vehicles’ fuel economy ratings, and in 2015 Volkswagen cheated diesel emission tests.