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Mitsubishi cheated on Japanese fuel economy test since 1991

Mitsubishi now says that its cheating on Japanese fuel economy tests stretches as far back as 1991. The automaker has hired an independent panel of investigators to get to the bottom of what happened, and the company will give them three months to prepare a report about the deception. Mitsubishi's cheat involves how the company calculated driving resistance to determine fuel economy. In 1991, Japan's Road Transport Vehicle Act established a coasting test to establish the driving resistance, but Mitsubishi's engineers used their own "high-speed coasting test," according to its statement. In 2007, the company decided to only use the country's mandated evaluation, but the employees kept utilizing the high-speed test in the field. In the most recent scandal, workers selected low values for driving resistance from the results, which made the fuel economy look better. Mitsubishi's presented these details in a report to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism. "We are currently investigating the reasoning behind each of the decisions," the company said in a statement. It also hired three former prosecutors to figure out why this happened for so long. At this time, Mitsubishi only confirms the incorrect figures for some of the company's minicars, but this investigation could discover more transgressions. This fiasco started when Nissan discovered fuel economy discrepancies in some of its Mitsubishi-made tiny kei-class cars in Japan. Mitsubishi came clean and admitted the problem affected about 625,000 vehicles in the country. Japanese media have alleged more vehicles have incorrect mileage, including the Outlander. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US has also requested data from the Japanese automaker to confirm similar deceptions didn't happen for vehicles here. Related Video: Regarding the Report to MLIT Concerning Improper Conduct in Fuel Consumption Testing of Vehicles Manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation Tokyo, April 26, 2016 The following is a summary of the report submitted by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC) to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) today, pursuant to instructions received from MLIT on April 20 to investigate improper conduct in fuel consumption testing of vehicles manufactured by MMC. Report Summary 1.

Pickup sales may hit 2M units for first time since 2007

Even as fuel prices creep back up, trucks are still a hot item among new-vehicle shoppers. To see how popular pickup trucks still are, you don't have to look any further than how much effort automakers put into the continual one-upmanship of their trucks. Backing this fact up, USA Today is reporting that the segment could top two million sales this year - a total not matched since 2007, though still far from the pre-recession, three-million-unit levels.
Through August, the Ford F-Series continues to be the segment leader with almost 500,000 units sold, but the Chevy Silverado (328,269), Ram 1500 (234,642), GMC Sierra (122,232) and Toyota Tacoma (110,293) are all seeing at least 20-percent sales increases, helping to account for around 1.44 million truck sales so far this year - not including possible outliers like the Suzuki Equator and Chevy Avalanche.
This year alone, General Motors has completely redesigned its fullsize trucks, Ram and Toyota have significantly updated their offerings, the next-gen Ford F-150 will be out next year and Nissan is promising an all-new Titan around the same time with an eventual Cummins diesel under the hood. It would seem, then, that truck sales are poised to continue their upward trend.

2015 Nissan Leaf gets B mode standard, new MorningSky Blue color

The Nissan Leaf is getting a few updates for the 2015 model year, some functional, some purely aesthetic. The appearance options will be made available later than the rest, and include a new exterior color called MorningSky Blue, as well as standard 17-inch aluminum alloy wheels for the SV trim level. In terms of driving, the 2015 Leaf gets a dedicated B-mode for every trim level, including the base S car (it was formerly only available in the SV and SL levels). This provides more aggressive regenerative braking when the driver is not on the accelerator - perfect for making the most of those downhill grades. Now every Nissan Leaf includes Normal, Eco-Mode and B-Mode, regardless of trim level. SV and SL trim levels also get a couple new convenience features. For those who find it impossible to disconnect while driving, the Hands-Free Text Messaging Assistant allows them to communicate without taking their eyes off the road, taking their hands off the wheel or risking a distracted driving ticket (perhaps you might want to rethink using it, though). Additionally, SV and SL customers will Voice Destination Entry to make spontaneous rerouting to the theme park a little easier. Of course, a lot of other Nissan cars got some cool upgrades this year. The Quest, NV200 Compact Cargo and V6-powered Altima, for instance, eke out another mile per gallon highway and combined. See what's new in the Leaf and the rest of the Nissan lineup in the press release below. The 2015 Nissan Lineup: Charting the Changes Nissan's U.S. sales have significantly outperformed the industry in 2014, up 12.7 percent CYTD through June. Sales have been led by the recently redesigned Altima, Rogue and Sentra – along with other models such as LEAF (+29.4%), JUKE (+44.9%), Frontier (+22.6%) and NV200 (+439.3%), which have shown strong results month after month. This gives the Nissan lineup great momentum heading into the 2015 model year. Headlining the changes for 2015 is the upcoming launch of the all-new Nissan Murano (due in late 2014). As the halo vehicle for Nissan's expanding range of bold crossovers and SUVs, the dramatic 2015 Murano features a new V-motion front end, LED boomerang lights and a unique "floating" roof. Murano's breakthrough exterior design carries into the interior, which offers an engaging social lounge feel through features such as advanced NASA-inspired Zero Gravity front and outboard rear seating and oversized Power Panoramic Moonroof.