AFP, TOKYO: Mitsubishi Motors shares nosedived for a third session yesterday morning, tumbling as much as 16 percent after the Japanese automaker's shock admission that it cheated on fuel-efficiency tests. Panic-selling on Wednesday and Thursday -- when the government raided one of its research centres -- had already sent the stock tumbling by a third, wiping about $2.5 billion off its market value. At the break Friday, the firm was down 13.20 per cent at 506 yen ($4.60), having crashed 16 per cent at one point. The rout marks Mitsubishi's worst three-day decline since its 1988 listing, Bloomberg News reported. The scandal came as German auto giant Volkswagen struggles to restore its badly dented reputation
after revelations of emissions rigging.
On Wednesday, Mitsubishi admitted that unnamed employees rigged tests to make some of its cars seem more fuel-efficient than they were
in reality.
The company said it would halt production and sales of the affected models -- mini-cars sold in Japan including some made for rival Nissan -- and warned that the number of cars involved in the scandal would likely rise, as it looks to vehicles sold overseas.