Nissan Admits It Has Uncovered Falsified Emissions Tests In Japan

Nissan has officially announced it has discovered falsified data from emissions tests performed at all company's production facilities in Japan, except the Nissan Motor Kyushu. The automaker has been "proactively carrying out comprehensive compliance checks of various parts of its operations" since September 2017, when it has uncovered "nonconformities in the final vehicle inspection process."

The two key findings from the investigations so far are related with the falsified "performance of exhaust emissions and fuel economy tests that deviated from the prescribed testing environment," as well as the "creation of inspection reports based on altered measurement values." The results have already been reported to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and Nissan has retained Japanese law firm Nishimura and Asahi for "a full and comprehensive investigation," which is currently underway.

So far, the manufacturer hasn't made it clear how many cars are involved in the altering of data, but it says all vehicles, except the GT-R, conform to the Japanese safety standards. The reasons why the sports car isn't among them are not known at the moment.

Nissan promises it will continue to "carry out comprehensive checks of frameworks, organizations, and processes related to regulatory compliance." If and when further issues are discovered, Nissan says without going into details, "appropriate measures will be taken."

Last week, contrary to previous information, it was reported the rumored merger between Renault and Nissan won't be happening with Carlos Ghosn, CEO of both brands, commenting that "anybody who will ask Nissan and Mitsubishi to become wholly owned subsidiaries of Renault has zero chance of getting a result." Whether this change of plans has anything to do with Nissan's emissions tests issues remains to be seen, but we expect to be hearing a lot about the world's largest automaker in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned.