日本監管機構搜查三菱汽車研發中心

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.

日本國土交通省官員突擊搜查了三菱汽車(Mitsubishi Motors)研發中心。此前，該公司承認僞造了逾60萬輛汽車的燃油經濟性數據。

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.

日本監管機構採取這一行動之際，投資者對這起醜聞的財務影響感到擔心。部分分析師表示，此事可能會令這家日本第六大汽車製造商損失近9.5億美元。

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.

大量賣單的出現促使三菱汽車的股票在週四暫停交易，此前該股跌至每股583日元，跌幅達20%，觸及了跌停板。

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

日本國土交通省表示，其官員搜查了三菱汽車位於日本中部岡崎的實驗室，所謂的不當行爲據信就是在這裏發生的。

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.

三菱汽車高管表示，公司部分員工將四款在日本生產和出售的微型車的燃油效率誇大了5%到10%。

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

日本國土交通省官員在週三、週四進行了兩次突擊搜查，沒收了相關測試數據。

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

三菱汽車表示自己將全力配合調查，該公司社長相川哲郎(Tetsuro Aikawa)也就不當行爲表示道歉。

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

日本國土交通省拒絕就可能會對三菱汽車施加的處罰置評，稱自己的調查還處於初期階段。

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

但日本內閣官房長官菅義偉(Yoshihide Suga)敦促國土交通省要作出“嚴厲迴應”，稱燃油數據操縱行爲的性質“極其嚴重”。

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.

三菱汽車的欺詐行爲還可能對汽車業造成嚴重影響。大衆汽車(Volkswagen)爆出尾氣造假醜聞後，全球監管機構已在採取措施收緊對燃油經濟性和污染的監管。

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.

雖然三菱與大衆的醜聞性質不同，但高盛(Goldman Sachs)分析師湯澤康太(Kota Yuzawa)表示，一個普遍存在的問題是，車輛在實驗室裏的表現與其在現實世界駕駛條件下的表現有差距。

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

他補充稱，三菱的這起醜聞將加快關於必須消除這一差距的討論。