Parade Of Auto Industry Scandals Heads Overseas For Now

U.S. auto makers Ford Motor Company F and General Motors Company GM both have a checkered past when it comes to their businesses. Both companies took loans from the government during the Financial Crisis, and they’ve both had ugly recalls related to vehicle safety. Ford recalled millions of tires in the early 90’s due to up to 100 deaths related to blowouts in Ford Explorers.

GM took even more heat for knowing about a faulty ignition switch as early as 2004, but deciding that it would be too costly to fix for years. The switch subsequently contributed to the deaths of at least 90 drivers.

Over the last year, however, international auto makers have seemingly been playing catch-up to their American peers on the scandal front.

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A look at the ZeeBiz graphic below shows the mess that Nissan Motor Co Ltd (ADR) NSANY, Volkswagen AG (ADR) VLKAY, SUZUKI MOTOR CORP NPV SZKMF and MITSUBISHI MOTOR C NPV MMTOF have gotten themselves into in recent months by cheating on emissions tests.

It all started back in September when Volkswagen admitted to cheating on emissions tests of 11 million cars. Then, last month Mitsubishi admitted that it had been cheating on fuel efficiency tests for 25 years. So far this month, South Korea has accused Nissan of cheating on fuel tests, and Suzuki has admitted to using improper fuel tests on 2.1 million vehicles.

Disclosure: The author holds no position in the stocks mentioned.