After VW, Mitsubishi hit by faulty emission tests

The shares of the company plummeted 15% on a report by the public broadcaster that said the faulty emission tests could affect about 6 lakh vehicles

Mitsubishi Motors' shares dived 15% in Tokyo. Photo: Reuters

Mitsubishi Motors' shares dived 15% in Tokyo on Wednesday in response to reports that the Japanese automaker conducted improper emissions tests, in the wake of a massive pollution-cheating scandal at Volkswagen.

After markets closed, the company said it would hold a press briefing at 5 pm local time to talk about "misconduct in fuel-efficiency tests on our vehicles". It did not elaborate.

The maker of the Outlander sport utility vehicle said its president Tetsuro Aika would speak at the meeting in Tokyo.

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Public broadcaster NHK said the faulty tests could affect about 6,00,000 Mitsubishi-produced cars, including some vehicles it makes for rival Nissan.

Mitsubishi sold over one million vehicles in its last fiscal year.

Its shares plunged 15.16% to close at 733 yen ($6.73).

That was the stock's biggest one-day plunge since 2004, Bloomberg News reported.

At that time, Mitsubishi was struggling to launch a turnaround as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy, hit by a lack of cash and a series of huge recalls.

German auto giant Volkswagen has been hammered by a global scandal that erupted six months ago when it emerged that VW had installed emissions-cheating software into 11 million diesel engines worldwide.

The costs of the scandal are still incalculable but are expected to run into many billions of dollars as a result of fines and lawsuits.

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