Mitsubishi falsified fuel consumption data for decades, the Japanese car maker has admitted, as the latest scandal to hit the automotive industry widens. 
 
 The company said the cheating about fuel economy figures dates from 1991 and more than 620,000 cars are affected, as it admitted the practice to the Japanese government. 
 
 In the wake if the VW emissions crisis, the admission has raised fears that cheating could be widespread in the car industry, according to one automotive expert. 
 
 Shares in Tokyo listed Mitsubishi fell 10pc on the news of the scale of the deception, and the company said it had established a special investigation committee made up of external legal experts to establish how far the scandal goes. 
 
 The company said that the affected cars were sold only in in its home market, and the models were the mini-car eK Wagon and eK Space, along with the Dayz and Dayz Roox, which Mitsubishi built but were badged as Nissans. Mini-cars, which have 660cc petrol engines, are hugely popular in Japan, but have found little success abroad. 

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 TOKYO — Mitsubishi Motors admitted on Tuesday that it had used improper methods to test the fuel economy of cars sold in Japan for 25 years, drastically widening the scope of a mileage-doctoring scandal gripping the company. 
 
 The automaker said it still did not know exactly how many models had been given exaggerated fuel ratings. But it said it now believed it had been using unapproved methods since 1991 — a period that covers dozens of vehicle introductions and millions of cars and trucks. 
 
 Mitsubishi has been reviewing its tests since the revelations that it had cheated on ones for the mileage ratings of small-engine microcars that it sells in Japan and supplies to another Japanese automaker, Nissan, through a joint venture agreement. Nissan engineers discovered the discrepancy last year, the company said. 
 
 Last week, Mitsubishi said its cheating on fuel economy tests had affected 620,000 vehicles sold in the Japanese market since 2013. 
 
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 Mitsubishi gave no indication that it had cheated on tests of cars sold in other markets. 
 
 “I’m truly sorry that customers were led to buy vehicles based on incorrect fuel-efficiency ratings,” Mitsubishi’s president, Tetsuro Aikawa, said at a news conference on Tuesday. “All I can do is apologize.” 

 What Can Mitsubishi Do to Repair Its Image? 
 
 Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said it has improperly tested the fuel economy of its cars for the past quarter century, deepening a crisis that’s already wiped out half its market value. 
 
 The automaker formed a panel of three former prosecutors to investigate improper testing that goes back as far back as 1991, including the falsification of fuel efficiency data, according to a statement Tuesday. The company said last week it hadn’t been complying with Japanese testing standards since 2002. 
 
 Tetsuro Aikawa in Tokyo on April 26. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg 
 
 “Customers bought our cars based on incorrect fuel-economy data,” President Tetsuro Aikawa told reporters during a press conference Tuesday. “I can’t help but apologize.” 
 
 The revelation reignited concerns about Mitsubishi Motors’ viability and sent shares plunging for a fifth day, dropping the company’s market value to 427 billion yen ($3.85 billion). Wrongdoing by the Japanese automaker and Volkswagen AG has prompted rising scrutiny of the way carmakers test for and label the fuel economy and exhaust emissions of their vehicles. 
 
 Mitsubishi Motors hasn’t decided on how it will compensate customers, said Aikawa, who also told reporters he wasn’t aware of the improper testing. 
 
 Raised Targets 
 
 Aikawa, 62, and other executives attended meetings where the company raised fuel economy targets for minicar models that the company said last week had been rated with manipulated data, Ryugo Nakao, executive vice president, told reporters Tuesday in Tokyo. Mitsubishi Motors doesn’t know how many models have been tested improperly since 1991, Nakao said. 
 
 When initially disclosing the misconduct last week, the carmaker said the fuel efficiency of 625,000 minicars had been exaggerated by as much as 10 percent. Three-quarters of the vehicles rated with deliberate use of false data were supplied to Nissan Motor Co. as the Dayz and Dayz Roox models. 
 
 Nissan first uncovered discrepancies when working on development for the next generation of the minicars, which Mitsubishi Motors sells as the eK Wagon and eK space. 
 
 Mitsubishi Motors still plans to report fourth-quarter results on Wednesday, Nakao said. The company probably will say quarterly net income increased 32 percent to 25.9 billion yen, according to analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. 
 
 Task Force 
 
 Japan’s government is forming a task force to take steps that would prevent irregularities in vehicle testing, Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii told reporters after a cabinet meeting Tuesday in Tokyo. Manipulation of fuel-efficiency tests is “extremely serious,” he said. 
 
 In a separate briefing, the ministry said the carmaker’s report Tuesday was insufficient and that it should file a new one by May 11. The ministry also said it planned to check all of the carmaker’s models for related discrepancies. 
 
 Mitsubishi Motors may have to pay back government tax rebates its minicars shouldn’t have been eligible for, Nakao said last week. The company is in discussions with Nissan on a plan for compensation Nissan customers, Aikawa said. 

 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese car maker Mitsubishi Motors Corp (7211.T) said on Tuesday it used fuel economy testing methods that did not comply with Japanese regulations for 25 years, much longer than previously known. 
 
 It said aggressive internal targets may have put pressure on employees to overstate the fuel economy of its vehicles, and would set up an external committee to investigate the matter. 
 
 Japan’s sixth-largest automaker has lost half its market value - some $3.9 billion - since it admitted last week to manipulating test data for four domestic mini-vehicle models, including two it produced for Nissan Motor Co (7201.T). 
 
 It has also said that more models may have used tests non-compliant with Japanese standards, prompting concern about ballooning potential compensation costs and fines. The U.S auto safety regulator is also seeking information, while Japanese authorities have raided one of the company’s research and development facilities. 
 
 Mitsubishi Motors said it used appropriate testing methods on vehicles sold in the United States, and had no indications of data manipulation in vehicles sold in other overseas markets. 
 
 It said it had been submitting non-compliant data to Japan’s transport ministry since 1991. It previously said such non-compliance went back only to at least 2002. 
 
 Ryugo Nakao, executive vice president, said Japanese regulations changed in 1991 to require testing methods to better reflect stop-and-go urban driving, but Mitsubishi Motors did not follow that rule change. “We should have switched, but it turns out we didn’t,” he said. 
 
 A committee of external experts will report the results of its investigation in three months, he said. 
 
 Nakao added that repeatedly raised internal fuel economy targets during the development of the affected models may have contributed to the cheating. “Judging by what the investigations have shown so far, it seems there was pressure,” he told reporters. 
 
 Another executive, Koji Yokomaku, said Mitsubishi Motors raised its fuel economy targets five times in two years while developing the mini-vehicles, reaching 29.2 km (18.14 miles) per liter from an initial target of 26.4 kms per liter. 
 
 Mitsubishi Motors Corp's President Tetsuro Aikawa attends a news conference at the transport ministry in Tokyo, Japan, April 26, 2016. REUTERS/Thomas Peter 
 
 Chief Operating Officer Tetsuro Aikawa, who was on the engineering team that developed the original eK Wagon, said he had no idea the fuel economy readings were being falsified. “I was totally unaware this was happening,” he said. “It’s a problem that this issue didn’t come up until now.” 
 
 FASTER TEST 
 
 The automaker has said it compiled data for fuel economy tests using U.S. standards, where higher-speed, highway driving is common, rather than Japanese standards, where more prevalent city driving commonly consumes more fuel. Mitsubishi Motors said the U.S. testing method may have been used as it is shorter and would save time. 
 
 Japan’s transport ministry said it found irregularities with the way Mitsubishi Motors compiled mileage data on models in addition to the four affected mini-vehicles. It said it wanted an explanation for this from the company by May 11. 
 
 The ministry earlier said it set up a task force to examine how other automakers submit fuel economy data. Last week, it ordered other domestic automakers to submit fuel economy test data by May 18. 
 
 The misconduct has revived memories of a scandal more than 15 years ago in which Mitsubishi Motors admitted systematically covering up customer complaints for more than two decades, bringing the company close to collapse. It was bailed out by other Mitsubishi Group companies. 
 
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 Senior officials at other Mitsubishi firms say it would be difficult for them to help the car maker this time, if needed, as they face their own financial squeeze, as well as calls to put shareholder returns above ties with the former Mitsubishi business empire. 
 
 Takehiko Kakiuchi, President and CEO of trading group Mitsubishi Corp (8058.T), told Reuters he as “aghast” at the scandal engulfing its sister company.
– The new Volkswagen: Mitsubishi? The car company announced Tuesday it has been cheating fuel tests in Japan for the past 25 years, an admission that caused shares to fall by 10% to a record low, reports CNNMoney. Mitsubishi's market value had already plunged last week with news that engineers from Nissan—Mitsubishi is a supplier to the fellow automaker—discovered that improper fuel-economy tests were used on four models: the eK Wagon, eK Space, Dayz, and Dayz Roox dating back to 2002, reports Reuters. Tuesday's revelation widens the scope of the problem. It isn't clear how many vehicles are affected, though no cars sold in the US are believed to be. Mitsubishi President Tetsuro Aikawa says he was unaware of the manipulation and the company is investigating who's responsible, reports Bloomberg. "I'm truly sorry that customers were led to buy vehicles based on incorrect fuel-efficiency ratings," he said, per the New York Times. "All I can do is apologize." The company said it's been using an unapproved method to measure deceleration, one that results in a too-rosy mileage rating. An industry expert says the unapproved tests may have been used on more than the four stated models, noting Mitsubishi has a "history of covering up faults." In the 2000s, it was involved in "Japan's worst automotive recall scandal to date" after burying safety records and customer complaints, reports the Telegraph.