Shipments of the Toyota Land Cruiser were halted after the scandal spread to Japan's No 1 car brand.
Just two months since an embarrassing safety scandal tarnished micro-car maker Daihatsu name, with the dirt spreading to parent company Toyota, the Toyota-Daihatsu scandal took an unexpected turn in Japan today.
Actually, Daihatsu’s president Soichiro Okudaira being forced to fall on his sword and resign to take responsibility for the certification scandal last January was totally expected. In fact, it was only a matter of time.
Toyota president Koji Sato (left) is joined by new Daihatsu president Masahiro Inoue, who will start ... [+]
Toyota conducted a joint press conference with Daihatsu today in Tokyo, with Toyota’s president Koji Sato announcing that former CEO of Toyota Latin America, Masahiro Inoue, would replace Okudaira in the top job at Daihatsu with the goal being to tighten control over the subsidiary and revise its operations.
Meanwhile, Masanori Kuwata will be the new executive vice president in charge of reforming corporate culture, starting March 1. Daihatsu’s chairman Sunao Matsubayashi will retire as well and the position will be abolished, said Sato.
“The rapid expansion of the company caused distortion that was not properly absorbed by the company,” commented Inoue. “I aim to rebuild Daihatsu.”
Kuwata’s role will be a critical one as well. He is currently the head of electrification initiatives at Lexus and the executive vice president of the Kyushu production site that builds Lexus cars.
“Now is the time to slow down a little bit to do the job right,” Sato said at the press conference.
“Now is the time to slow down a little bit to do the job right,” Sato said while announcing the changes. “In the short term, Daihatsu will slow down but regain its strengths in the meantime.”
Daihatsu was forced to halt the shipment of all models late last year, including some that were sold to Toyota, Subaru, and Mazda for sale under those brands.
The halt was prompted when an internal investigation revealed that Daihatsu had falsified side collision impact data. According to the investigation, the subsidiary had rigged safety tests on 64 nameplates, some two-dozen sold wearing Toyota badges.
It was also learned that Daihatsu has a three-decade history of cheating on results. According to Toyota, there have been no accidents linked to the falsified testing, which focused on airbag control units.
Then, in January, Toyota too was dragged into the mud with Daihatsu when it was forced to suspend shipments of 10 nameplates including big name models like the Hilux and Land Cruiser when it was revealed that inappropriate product testing had taken place at a group company supplying engines.
As a company that often places among the top three in JD Power customer satisfaction surveys, focusing on reliability among other factors, Toyota will no doubt get through this ruckus and return to its industry-leading position. Japan’s No 1 carmaker has been in scandals before and come out clean on the other side.
Just ten years ago, Toyota was ordered to pay $1.2B to avoid prosecution for covering up 'unattended acceleration’ problem. Through expert damage control—starting by replacing Daihatsu’s president with a trusted Toyota executive—Toyota will get through this issue too and restore its good name.
