Nissan injects £1.5bn to lift Mitsubishi from turmoil

Nissan has driven to the rescue of rival car-maker Mitsubishi Motors by taking a 34% emergency stake in the troubled firm after it was embroiled in a fuel-test cheating scandal.

Nissan will invest 237 billion yen (£1.5 billion) into Mitsubishi, leap-frogging a clutch of sister firms such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi to become its biggest shareholder.

The investment builds on a development tie-up between the two businesses which has been in place since 2011.

Mitsubishi shares have fallen 43% since it admitted rigging the fuel economy on four minicars, two of which it made for Nissan. None of them sold in the UK.

“We will help this company tackle the challenges it faces, particularly in restoring consumers’ trust in fuel economy performance,” Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn said.

Mitsubishi Motors chief executive Osamu Masuko added: “It will not be easy to restore trust. With Nissan, we will start moving towards that goal.”

Mitsubishi’s president and chief operating officer Tetsuro Aikawa appeared at the Tokyo transport ministry late last month to admit the firm had used dodgy fuel-efficiency testing for 25 years.