Japanese regulators have raided the research and development centre of Mitsubishi Motors after the carmaker admitted to falsifying fuel economy data on more than 600,000 vehicles.

日本国土交通省官员突击搜查了三菱汽车(Mitsubishi Motors)研发中心。此前，该公司承认伪造了逾60万辆汽车的燃油经济性数据。

The move by transport ministry officials came as investors balked at the scandal’s financial impact, which some analysts said could cost Japan’s sixth-largest automobile maker almost $950m.

日本监管机构采取这一行动之际，投资者对这起丑闻的财务影响感到担心。部分分析师表示，此事可能会令这家日本第六大汽车制造商损失近9.5亿美元。

A flood of sell orders required a suspension of trading in Mitsubishi’s shares on Thursday, before the stock dropped by a daily limit of 20 per cent to ￥583.

大量卖单的出现促使三菱汽车的股票在周四暂停交易，此前该股跌至每股583日元，跌幅达20%，触及了跌停板。

The transport ministry said its officials raided Mitsubishi’s laboratories in Okazaki, central Japan, where the alleged misconduct is believed to have taken place.

日本国土交通省表示，其官员搜查了三菱汽车位于日本中部冈崎的实验室，所谓的不当行为据信就是在这里发生的。

Mitsubishi executives have said some of its employees had overstated fuel efficiency by 5 to 10 per cent on four types of small cars made and sold in Japan.

三菱汽车高管表示，公司部分员工将四款在日本生产和出售的微型车的燃油效率夸大了5%到10%。

Test data were confiscated in two raids by officials that took place on Wednesday and Thursday.

日本国土交通省官员在周三、周四进行了两次突击搜查，没收了相关测试数据。

Mitsubishi said it was fully co-operating with the investigation, and Tetsuro Aikawa, president, has apologised for the misconduct.

三菱汽车表示自己将全力配合调查，该公司社长相川哲郎(Tetsuro Aikawa)也就不当行为表示道歉。

The transport ministry declined to comment on what penalties it might impose on Mitsubishi, saying its inquiry was at an early stage.

日本国土交通省拒绝就可能会对三菱汽车施加的处罚置评，称自己的调查还处于初期阶段。

But Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, urged the ministry to take a “strict response”, describing the fuel data manipulation as “extremely serious”.

但日本内阁官房长官菅义伟(Yoshihide Suga)敦促国土交通省要作出“严厉回应”，称燃油数据操纵行为的性质“极其严重”。

The cheating at Mitsubishi could also have serious consequences for the car industry, with regulators worldwide already moving to tighten regulations on fuel economy and pollution following the emissions scandal at Volkswagen.

三菱汽车的欺诈行为还可能对汽车业造成严重影响。大众汽车(Volkswagen)爆出尾气造假丑闻后，全球监管机构已在采取措施收紧对燃油经济性和污染的监管。

While the nature of the scandals at Mitsubishi and VW are different, Kota Yuzawa, analyst at Goldman Sachs, said a common problem was the gap between the performance of vehicles in the lab compared with real-world driving conditions.

虽然三菱与大众的丑闻性质不同，但高盛(Goldman Sachs)分析师汤泽康太(Kota Yuzawa)表示，一个普遍存在的问题是，车辆在实验室里的表现与其在现实世界驾驶条件下的表现有差距。

He added that the scandal at Mitsubishi will accelerate debate about the need to close this gap.

他补充称，三菱的这起丑闻将加快关于必须消除这一差距的讨论。