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Mitsubishi's Second-Largest Shareholder Risks Losing $3 Billion

Mitsubishi’s cheating scheme might cost its investors an outrageous amount of money, according to reports.
2014 Mitsubishi Mirage ES 1 photo
Photo: Mitsubishi
As you probably know by now, Mitsubishi admitted it falsified fuel economy data since 1991. While Volkswagen’s Dieselgate scandal is expected to cost billions of dollars to fix the affected vehicles and buy back some of them, Mitsubishi’s situation will be even worse.

The Japanese automaker did not develop a “defeat device,” but it employed a cheating scheme that provided its models with a lower fuel economy than they would achieve according to government-regulated tests.

The scandal emerged last month, when their partners at Nissan uncovered inconsistencies in internal testing of models built by Mitsubishi Motors for them, and the three-diamond brand’s officials admitted the blame.

According to Bloomberg, Mitsubishi Motors’ second-largest shareholder has estimated it could lose as much as $3 billion because of the scandal.

We are talking about Mitsubishi Corporation, the company that owns 10% of Mitsubishi Motors shares. However, the largest owner of Mitsubishi Motors stocks in the world, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, has not commented on the estimations and refused to comment potential loss.

Taking into account the fact that Mitsubishi Motors has been bailed out twice by the Mitsubishi Group, this might be the last strike for the automaker. After all, this scandal could prove more costly than Volkswagen’s Dieselgate, as the Japanese brand has manipulated data for a quarter of a century.

The problem has been previously described as “extremely serious” by Japan’s Transport Minister, and it would be hard for the company to recover customer faith if it survives this scandal.

Mitsubishi Motors has until May 11, 2016, to re-submit findings from its internal investigation to Japan’s Transport Ministry. The latter received a previous report from Mitsubishi, but it was deemed “insufficient,” and the authority asked for more information. It is easy to understand their position, as Volkswagen’s Dieselgate was treated similarly by other governments.
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About the author: Sebastian Toma
Sebastian Toma profile photo

Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland.
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