Here’s how Mitsubishi Motors cheated on mileage tests for 25 years

Japanese car maker Mitsubishi Motors Corp accepted on Tuesday that it used fuel economy testing methods that didn’t comply with Japanese regulations for 25 years.

The company, widely touted as Japan's sixth-largest automaker has lost half its market value, a whopping $3.9 billion since it admitted to manipulating test data. Mind, this was for four domestic mini-vehicle models, including two produced for Nissan Motor Co. It has also confessed that more models may be non-compliant.

As it stands now, the U.S auto safety regulator has asked for more information and the Japanese authorities have raided one of the company's R&D Centres.

Here’s how Mitsubishi cheated.

The company compiled data for fuel economy tests using U.S. standards. In the US, high-speed highway driving is common. However in Japan, city driving is more prevalent, and consumes more fuel. Mitsubishi Motors said the U.S. testing method was used as it was shorter and saved time.

The misconduct has left many thinking of another scandal where more than 15 years ago Mitsubishi Motors was found to have been systematically covering up customer complaints for over two decades.

The scandal brought the company close to collapse. Let’s see what this one does.

Image credit: Indiatimes