I was going to post something about this myself, but decided it was still unverified. The Auto Motor & Sport article was as far as the trail took me. It quo

I was going to post something about this myself, but decided it was still unverified. The Auto Motor & Sport article was as far as the trail took me. It quotes the Dagens Nyheter, which in turn quotes an anonymous Japanese car magazine, whose article may or may not be true (if it exists at all). This has the hallmarks of an urban legend: Japanese car manufacturers do have previous form with the Toyota MR2 and Mitsubishi Pajero, so the story is plausible; there's a moral here; and the story has not been followed all the way to its original source.