OSAKA (Kyodo) – Toyota Motor Corporation’s small car division Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. announced on Monday that it will continue suspending domestic production until at least the end of January after suspending all domestic shipments due to a safety test scandal.
Daihatsu Motor Co., which is undergoing an on-site inspection by Japan’s Ministry of Transport, said it did not know when it would be able to resume shipments or production. The company plans to halt production at all factories in Japan by Tuesday.
The outage is a huge blow to thousands of suppliers. According to credit research firm Teikoku Databank, there are more than 8,000 companies in Japan that directly or indirectly supply products and services to automakers, with combined annual sales of approximately 2.2 trillion yen ($15 billion). It is said that it goes up to
According to sources familiar with the matter, Daihatsu has begun compensation negotiations with its suppliers. The automaker, which produces about 4,000 cars a day, has already stopped ordering parts, they said.
According to sources, the company is also negotiating with the labor union regarding wages for employees during production suspension.
Last week, Daihatsu announced that a total of 64 vehicle models had been subjected to inappropriate safety tests, an increase from the six models revealed in the spring.
In response to this revelation, the company announced that it had decided to suspend all shipments within and outside of Japan. However, in Indonesia and Malaysia, governments have confirmed that Daihatsu vehicles sold in Indonesia and Malaysia are safe to use. We have confirmed this and have resumed shipping.
The automaker said the vehicles currently in use do not pose an immediate safety problem.