Mitsubishi Motors scandal widens as U.S. regulator seeks information

wiping off around 40% of its market value, or $3.2 billion in three days

Wow. Time to buy Mitsubishi stock...

“This is a serious problem that could lead to the loss of trust in our country’s auto industry,” Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii told a news conference on Friday.

Oh boy the wagons are circling around right quick.

Just think of all the children dying out there from getting a mile or two less per gallon.

They've always made subpar cars. That's why they had to cheat.

Every car maker is in on it. I feel its a push to get us in Electric vehicles sooner than later. The new players in the car industty are smieling in the wings.

This week alone, PSA Peugeot Citroen was raided by France’s anti-fraud investigators as part of ongoing probes on >>pollutants in the industry.

In the meantime, in Japan, this caught company doing fraud is asked by the Japan transport minister to provide a full report on their own wrongdoings.

“This is a serious problem that could lead to the loss of trust in our country’s auto industry,” Transport Minister Keiichi >>Ishii told a news conference on Friday.

Then stop covering frauds and launch an independent anti-fraud and consumer protection body for god sake.

penny stock soon or government bailout?

Mitsubishi Motors is certified ISO9001, a quality management system. What a useless certification it is! Or have they controlled the fuel-efficiency data shrewdly with this management system?

The misconduct has revived memories of a scandal more than 15 years ago in which Mitsubishi admitted to systematically covering up customer complaints for more than 20 years, bringing the company close to collapse.

What customer complaints mean exactly? Why not say the plain truth and clearly explain what really happened since a lot of people may not know it. Saying just customer complaints sounds quite complaisant.

The truth is that Mitsubishi Motors had covered up defects involving flawed axles that could lead wheels to detach. There were people who died from this in Japan and other were injured.

Below is a Washigton Post article describing the Mitsubishi scandal back in 2004. What is also interesting is how the article describes Japan Inc with its lies, cover-up, outdated corporate culture and little punishments from the authorities whenever a company is caught violating the law. We are in 2016, and the situation has not changed at all, we are still dealing with the same sh.... over and over again.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2004/07/06/safety-scandal-shames-mitsubishi/69055825-02db-4763-8b39-03949b3ba727/

People who know cars tell me that they have always been junk. I even had a Japanese engineer who worked for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries tell me that the only reason he bought a Mitsubishi Motors car was because there was corporate pressure to do so, that he considered them substandard and would not buy one on his own free will.

I have also read and been told that Daimler backed out of its relation with Mitsubishi because they recognized it was a partner that could well tarnish their image.

@Bullfighter,

I hear you just like the Ford Cortina was nicknamed the "tin corna" as every1 new it was a price of junk.

I'm sure this will not, in any way, affect Japan's tender (under Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) for Australia's $50 Billion dollar Submarine contract. No really!

Car companies are having a hard time competing with the high fuel efficiency (and technology) that Toyota and Honda have. Volkswagon had to cheat with their diesels. Hyundai/Kia overstated mileage claims and had to give rebates to consumer over the life of the car (Kia Soul was the worst offender). People expected that 40mpg mark which is hard to do.

At one time the Mitsubishi Gallant was rated higher than the Accord and Camry. I believe it is bad management that lets poor engineering make these decisions that have drastic outcomes.

http://youtu.be/x42auS_pOQY (3:30 Montero diesel climb)

-maybe only a LandRover can accomplish the same feat. Mitsubishi Evolution has been a leader in its field for along time.

I'll submit that the pick-ups at least were great cars. My first was a carbureted 80's model I bought in the 90's that had been pampered and lowered. I lifted it back up after my buddy spilled his coffee and my g.f. gave me black looks. It had cabinets and red carpet in the back under a shell. It was manual, so I mounted a tach on the dash. Lots 'o fun. The motor spun like an airplane engine. The second was more stock and prosaic. I did ok re-selling both of them. Think its a shame they haven't been imported in to the USA for about 25 years. What the guys in the suits do has little to nothing to do with what the guys on the blueprint table and on the assembly line do.

I hope Mitsubishi won't use software like VW. If Mitsubishi has used emission beating software like VW and then authority must look at other car Companies as well. If Mitsubishi was just misleading on fuel consumption and then it will be lesser impact on Company than VW. VW has refused to compensate affected VW owners from other countries and VW will pay compensation to US owner only.

And you thought Japanese companies were known for integrity.......

audit honda toyota nissan as well. They all habe shoddy reputations for covering up things

audit honda toyota nissan as well. They all habe shoddy reputations for covering up things

While you are at it, do Ford and Chevy too. Who the hell believes those fuel efficiency ratings anyway? "Our car gets 50 miles to the gallon" or something like, "This one get 30km to the liter", like right, some may but the conditions have to be perfect and anyone gullible enough to buy the car based on that information alone, well maybe 650,000 here in Japan, should learn a lesson from this fiasco.

A action for misrepresentation in the courts would bring about restitution for a lot of owners......

bullfighterApr. 23, 2016 - 02:45PM JST People who know cars tell me that they have always been junk. I even had a Japanese engineer who worked for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries tell me that the only reason he bought a Mitsubishi Motors car was because there was corporate pressure----

So, how many Mitsubishis have you owned ? I have owned 6 different Mitsubishi cars over the years including Toyotas and Nissans. I have had no complaints on any. I have mechanic skills and all Japanese cars are good for the purposes they have been made for.

It'll be interesting to see if Mitsubishi programmed in a "cheat" code on the engine control computer to fool the EPA fuel economy test. That would have been easy to do with the pre-2006 test, but the current EPA test includes test running in higher ambient temperatures, running the air conditioner and (for the highway test) a run to 130 km/h (circa 80 mph), all over which can really cut fuel efficiency compared to the old tests. As such, it would be much harder for Mitsubishi to cheat to the EPA tests compared to the Japanese and European fuel economy tests.