Mitsubishi Motors Corp. on Wednesday abstained from releasing a forecast for fiscal 2016 as a scandal involving falsified fuel efficiency figures threatened to be a road wreck for the automaker.
Managing Director Yutaka Tabata said it will be "difficult" to come up with a forecast until the full extent of the scandal is known.
He was speaking at a news conference after the release of corporate earnings for fiscal 2015, in which it posted an operating profit of ¥138 billion, up 1.8 percent, on sales of ¥2.26 trillion, up 4 percent.
Net profit decreased to ¥89 billion from ¥118 billion after it posted a special loss of ¥19.1 billion related to a U.S. factory closure.
Mitsubishi Motors President Tetsuro Aikawa told reporters at the same event that the scandal was already being felt.
"As for domestic market sales, we have yet to fully grasp the situation, but compared with before the announcement, daily orders have halved," Aikawa said.
The scandal has not yet affected markets overseas, Aikawa said.
On April 20, Mitsubishi disclosed that it had manipulated data in fuel efficiency tests for more than 620,000 minicars.
The firm has since also admitted using a testing method that is not compliant with the Japanese law — something it has been doing since 1991.
The minicar models are eK Wagon and eK Space as well as Dayz and Dayz Roox, which Mitsubishi assembles for Nissan Motor Co.
The Tokyo-based automaker may face huge costs for compensating parties involved, including car buyers, Nissan and the government — which granted it tax discounts for fuel-efficient vehicles.
Mitsubishi used figures for tire and air resistance that were unrealistically low compared with actual road conditions.
The firm has said this inflated the vehicles' apparent fuel efficiency by 5 to 10 percent. It is currently carrying out tests to determine the exact discrepancy.
Aikawa said the amount of compensation the firm may be liable for will depend on those figures.
For fiscal 2015, Mitsubishi said although the strong yen has hurt profits, corporate cost savings have offset this.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.