MMC Books $480 Million Charge for Fuel-Economy Payments

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. says it will book a 50 billion-yen ($480 million) charge to cover the cost of compensating customers in Japan who own vehicles with falsified fuel economy ratings.

The charge is for the fiscal year that began April 1. In May MMC restated its financial results for the previous fiscal year to include a 19.1 billion-yen ($173 million) charge for costs related to the scandal.

MMC will pay each affected minivehicle owners 100,000 yen ($960), plus a sum covering the difference in fuel usage and taxes paid. The company also will give 30,000 yen ($288) to each of 30,000 owners of five other models with falsified mileage ratings.

In April MMC admitted it used estimates rather than actual field tests. It says it also sometimes falsified the data itself to improve the fuel economy ratings for 20 models sold over the past 25 years, including some that were marketed under the Nissan Motor Co. brand.

The cheating scandal, which followed two others a decade ago over long-running safety and customer complaint cover-ups, pushed MMC to near collapse. Nissan agreed to spend 237 billion yen ($2.2 million) acquire a one-third controlling stake in the company. The investment gives Nissan four seats on MMC’s board.