After Mitsubishi recently admitted to fudging fuel-efficiency claims for some of its cars sold in Japan, Suzuki
has also owned up to using improper fuel-efficiency testing methods. 16 of the carmaker's models on sale in Japan have come under scrutiny for improper fuel-efficiency claims, which include cars like the WagonR, S-cross, Swift and the Made-In-India Baleno. Suzuki states that this impacts the cars sold in Japan only and not Suzuki’s overseas markets.
Discrepancies were found in Suzuki’s emission and fuel-efficiency road testing methods versus those prescribed by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Japan. Suzuki also claims that post re-testing, it did not see a signification variation from the earlier figures with the values remaining within the range of measurement deviation.
The issue is likely to have little bearing in India as mileage data disclosed for our market is not the manufacturer claimed figure but efficiency as certified by ARAI after conducting laboratory tests set to a prescribed Indian driving cycle.