Scandal-ridden automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp.

Source: Japan Times

MMC hit sales target -- by selling to own dealers

Scandal-ridden automaker Mitsubishi Motors Corp. inflated its new vehicle sales figures in Japan in the last business year by selling about 10 percent to dealers instead of consumers, industry sources said Friday.

MMC managed to clear its domestic sales target of 220,000 in fiscal 2004 by selling about 227,000 vehicles. But nearly 20,000 of them are believed to have been purchased by affiliated dealers, the sources said, raising the possibility the sales target was not truly achieved.

A MMC spokesman denied the allegation.

"We've never forced our sales affiliates to purchase our vehicles to achieve a sales target," he claimed.