Last week Mitsubishi Motors admitted to manipulating fuel economy test data, using methods that were non-compliant with Japanese standards. They were found to be cheating for the last 25 years. Concerns among investors on potential compensation costs and fines immediately made the dishonored Japanese automaker lose half of its market value.
When will they come clean?
This was not the first time. Back in 2002, the wheel on one of Mitsubishi Motors’ trailer-truck models came off and killed a pedestrian. The court found that, since the late 1970s, Mitsubishi Motors had been covering up many customer complaints of defects that should have been reported to transport authorities for recall instead of privately fixing the defects. At the end, the Mitsubishi Group bailed its subsidiary out to save the disgraced company from bankruptcy.
Last September, German automaker Volkswagen was reported using a defeat device in diesel engine vehicles sold in ......