Mitsubishi: Establishment of special investigation committee

In connection with the certification process for the mini-cars manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (“MMC”), MMC hereby notifies that, yesterday, the board of directors decided to establish a special investigation committee (the “Committee”) consisting of only external experts.

MMC expresses its most sincere apologies to all of our customers, shareholders, and stakeholders for any inconvenience or concern caused by this occasion.

1 Background for the establishment of the Committee

As announced, on April 20, 2016, in the press release titled “Improper conduct in fuel consumption testing on products manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors Corporation (MMC),” it has been revealed that, in the certification process for mini-cars manufactured by MMC, with respect to the fuel consumption testing data submitted to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism, MMC conducted testing improperly, to present better fuel consumption rates than the actual rates; and that the testing method was also different from the one required by Japanese law (the “Matter”). For the sake of ensuring an objective and thorough investigation into the Matter, MMC has established this Committee in a way such that all members would be external experts independent from MMC.

2 Membership and activities of the Committee

i – Membership of the Committee

The Committee is composed of the members, as follows, who have no conflicts of interest with MMC. Therefore, MMC has recognized no factor that would harm the independence and neutrality of the Committee. Further, MMC is considering appointing experts with technical knowledge to participate in the investigation.

Committee Chair: Keiichi WATANABE, Attorney at Law
(former Superintending Prosecutor, Tokyo High Prosecutors Office)
Committee Member: Yoshiro SAKATA, Attorney at Law
Committee Member: Genta YOSHINO, Attorney at Law

ii – Activities

The Committee shall perform the following activities pursuant to MMC’s delegation.

I – Investigation to uncover the facts surrounding the Matter, including review of related documents and data, and interviews with the related people.
II – Investigation to confirm the existence of other improper conduct similar to the Matter, and uncover the facts, if it does.
III – Analysis of the cause of the Matter, and a suggestion on measures to prevent recurrence.

3 Schedule moving forward

The Committee shall investigate the Matter for about the next three months, and make a report on its results. MMC plans to disclose the report in a timely manner.

(For Reference) Profiles of the special investigate committee members: