Tokyo / AFP The head of crisis-hit Mitsubishi Motors said on Wednesday that sales in Japan have fallen off a cliff since the company admitted last week that it has been cheating on fuel-efficiency tests. Tetsuro Aikawa, the automaker’s president, revealed that orders have dropped by almost half since the scandal erupted, as the crisis takes a toll on ...

  Sydney / Bloomberg Australian consumer prices fell in January-March for the first time since 2008 during the global financial crisis, data showed on Wednesday, putting pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates and sending the local dollar tumbling. The statistics bureau said the consumer price index (CPI) fell 0.2 percent in the quarter from the previous three ...

  Seoul/ AP Kia Motors Corp., South Korea’s second-largest automaker, posted a solid first-quarter net profit on Wednesday on the back of a weaker Korean won and strong demand for its SUVs and motorhomes. Net profit stood at 944.6 billion won ($822.7 million) during the January-March period, up 4.6 percent from a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory ...