Japanese officials raid Mitsubishi offices

The raid occurred on Thursday at a factory in Tokyo, a day after Mitsubishi admitted to lying about fuel consumption rates in the latest scandal to involve a major automaker.

The president of Japan's sixth-largest car manufacturer admitted on Wednesday the company had purposefully falsified data for about 625,000 vehicles in order to make them seem more fuel-efficient than they actually were.

"We found that with respect to the fuel consumption testing data... [Mitsubishi] conducted testing improperly to present better fuel consumption rates than the actual rates," Tetsuro Aikawa said at a press conference in Tokyo.

Seeking answers

The country's Transport Ministry was seeking more answers about how and to what extent the company cheated on the tests before it will consider the proper punishment, Japanese media reported.

Mitsubishi's shares plummeted on Wednesday before the announcement and plunged again on Thursday following the president's press conference.

Meanwhile, Aikawa said it would take time before the company realized the full extent of the scandal. Manipulations were discovered in the mini-car models "eK Wagon" and "eK Space," as well as in the "Dayz" and "Dayz Rook" vehicles.

'The damage will be big'

The company said it would halt production on those models and also launch a probe into car models sold overseas.

The scandal came to light after Nissan, Japan's No. 2 automaker, found inconsistencies in its own data. It also comes shortly after German manufacturer Volkswagen found itself embroiled in a major controversy involving rigged emissions software in its automobiles.

Aikawa said the company expected its bottom line to take a hit thanks to the crisis. "The damage will be big," he said.

blc/jil (AFP, dpa)