Mitsubishi Motors has admitted it deliberately altered testing data to show better fuel consumption rates for four of its mini-car models sold in Japan.

三菱汽车(Mitsubishi Motors)已承认自己故意更改了测试数据，以证明其在日本销售的四款微型车具有更低的耗油率。

Japan’s sixth-largest automaker said it will halt production and sales of the four affected models, including two supplied to Nissan. The four models are the ek Wagon, eK Space, Dayz and Dayz Roox, involving about 625,000 vehicles.

这家日本第六大汽车制造商表示，将暂停这四款受影响车型——其中包括两款供应给日产(Nissan)的车型——的生产和销售。这四款车型是ek Wagon、eK Space、Dayz和Dayz Roox，总计涉及约62.5万辆车。

“We offer our deepest apology,” president Tetsuro Aikawa said at a packed news conference. “We will get to the bottom of why this misconduct was carried out.”

三菱汽车社长相川哲郎(Tetsuro Aikawa)在拥挤的新闻发布会上表示：“我们致以最深的歉意。我们将对造成这起不当行为的原因一查到底。”

The company will set up a committee to look into the issue consisting of outside experts, he added.

他还表示，三菱汽车将成立一个委员会来调查此事，委员会将由外部专家组成。

An internal investigation, triggered by questions raised by Nissan, found that the company’s testing method did not comply with requirements under Japanese law.

三菱汽车展开的一次内部调查发现，该公司的测试方法并未遵守日本法律的规定。这次内部调查是由日产方面提出的问题引发的。

Mitsubishi Motors said the improper testing method was carried out for vehicles sold in Japan, and that it will also investigate cars sold in overseas markets.

三菱汽车表示，这一不当测试方法只用于在日本销售的车辆，但公司仍将调查销往海外市场的车辆。

Shares in Mitsubishi Motors fell the most in more than a decade on Wednesday, dropping 15 per cent after the Japanese carmaker called the press conference.

周三，在三菱汽车召开新闻发布会后，这家日本汽车制造商的股价下跌了15%，跌幅创十多年来之最。

The global auto industry has been rocked by scandals over the past two years, first with the mass recalls prompted by concerns over airbags made by Japanese firm Takata, and subsequently by Volkswagen’s admission last year that it had cheated US emissions tests.

过去两年全球汽车业不断受到丑闻的冲击，先是日本高田(Takata)制造的安全气囊存在的问题引发大规模召回，然后是去年大众汽车(Volkswagen)承认在美国尾气检测中作弊。