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.

Japan's fifth-largest carmaker reported declining monthly sales throughout 2004 as customers avoided the MMC brand, which was severely tainted by an extensive defect coverup scandal.

The impact of the coverups was huge. MMC's fiscal 2004 sales dove a steep 132,000 vehicles from the previous year.

Dealers sometimes purchase cars from automakers as demonstration models for prospective customers. They also buy some for use as loaners for customers whose cars are being serviced.

The dealers are said to buy roughly 1 percent of new cars from manufacturers for such purposes.

MMC said more cars were registered as being owned by dealers because its recalls boosted the need for loaners.

The sources, however, said there is an unwritten code in the Japanese auto industry in which dealers are asked to buy more cars to help manufacturers achieve their sales targets.