Japanese car maker, MitsubishiMotors has made a public admission that it has found evidence that its employees manipulated emissions test data.

The company said that it has stopped making and selling the vehicles and also pointed out that an independent panel has bene set up to investigate the matter. Mitsubishi Motors president TetsuroAikawa and other senior officials of the company bowed deeply at the start of a media briefing in the Japanese capital, Tokyo. Aikawa said that the misconduct has been reported to Japan's transportation ministry.

The company sold more than one million vehicles across the world in the previous year. The fraudulent tests involved 157,000 of the company'sbrand light passenger cars and 468,000 vehicles produced for Nissan. The problem surfaced when Nissan pointed out inconsistencies in emissions data that prompted Mitsubishi to conduct an internal investigation that revealed misconduct by some employees. This is the first time that the company has recorded misconductinvolving fuel economy tests.

The shares of the company fell around 15 per cent after the company made the announcement. The shares closed at 733 yen, down 131 recording their largest single day loss in around 12 years.