Toyota’s Daihatsu halts all domestic production

Daihatsu, a Toyota-owned Japanese automaker, has halted all domestic manufacturing due to a significant safety testing scam.

The company, which employs approximately 9,000 people in Japan, has closed the last of its four domestic operations, a Daihatsu spokesperson told AFP on Tuesday.

“Production will be halted until January. We have not been able to determine when our domestic production will be able to resume,” the spokesman said.

According to a private research group, the change might affect over 8,000 businesses across the country.

The company admitted last week that it had been rigging safety testing since at least 1989, affecting 64 vehicles, including several sold under the Toyota name, which are now being suspended.

It admitted in April that it had falsified crash test data for four of its models, affecting a total of 88,000 vehicles manufactured in Thailand and Malaysia in 2022 and 2023.

In May, it announced that it would cease production of two hybrid car models in Japan due to similar “irregularities,” including the Toyota Raize SUV, which was manufactured on behalf of its parent firm.

Daihatsu, which was founded in 1907 to manufacture internal combustion engines, launched its first three-wheeled vehicle in 1931 before being acquired by Toyota in 1967.