Tokyo, Japan – The Japanese automotive industry is facing a significant setback following the revelation that several major car manufacturers have been involved in falsifying data related to the certification of certain vehicle models. The transport ministry of Japan recently uncovered that false data was used in certifying models by companies like Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Suzuki, and Yamaha.
In the wake of this scandal, shares of these automakers have experienced a sharp decline in the stock market. Toyota, the largest carmaker in Japan, saw its shares plummet by more than 5.4% following the news, resulting in a market value loss of 2.45 trillion Japanese yen. Similarly, Mazda, the country’s second-largest automaker, witnessed a 7.7% drop in its shares, leading to a market capitalization loss of 80.33 billion yen.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also found irregularities in certification applications by Honda, Suzuki, and Yamaha. As a result, these companies saw a decrease in their stock prices last week, but all were trading higher on Monday as they try to recover from the fallout of the scandal.
In response to the government’s investigation report, Toyota announced that it would temporarily halt shipments and sales of three models – the Corolla Fielder, Corolla Axio, and Yaris Cross – which were found to have been tested using methods that did not align with national standards. Mazda also took action by suspending the Roadster RF and Mazda 2.
Both Toyota and Mazda expressed their commitment to ensuring the safety of their customers, reassuring them that they could still drive their cars despite the certification issues. Moving forward, the transport ministry plans to conduct on-site inspections of the companies involved to address the misconduct reported.
This latest scandal in the Japanese automotive industry follows a similar safety scandal involving Toyota’s Daihatsu unit in December. The company had to halt shipments of all vehicles after issues were found in 64 models, including 22 sold under the Toyota brand. Daihatsu admitted to rigging side-collision safety tests for 88,000 small cars, most of which were under the Toyota brand.