Daihatsu suspends Japan production

Japanese car maker Daihatsu has suspended all its domestic production as the Toyota-owned company faces a massive safety testing scandal.

The firm, which has about 9,000 factory workers in Japan, closed the last of its four domestic plants, a Daihatsu spokesperson said on Tuesday.

"Production will be suspended through January. We have not been able to assess as to exactly when our domestic production can resume," the spokesperson said.

The move could affect more than 8,000 companies across the country, according to a private research firm.

The suspension of operations and the  vehicle recalls will have an effect on crossover brands in the Philippies.

Last year, Toyota Motor Philippines launched the 2022 Raize, a subcompact that has a Daihatsu engine.

There are other units that are Daihatsu models being sold with the Toyota brand.

The Avanza is also known as Daihatsu Xenia and was launched in 2006 while the Wigo has a Daihatsu counterpart in Ayla and was introduced in the local market in 2014, and then the Rush, also the Daihatsu Terios, rolled out in 2018.

While it carried the Toyota label, the Raize is built by PT Astra Daihatsu Motor or ADM in Indonesia. Raize is also the Daihatsu Rocky.

Daihatsu was present in the local market in the eighties, until the nineties but faded out around the time of the Asian financial crisis.

Among the brands marketed in the country are the Hijet commercial vehicles, the Charade hatchback and the 4×4 Feroza.

Last week, Daihatsu said it had been manipulating safety tests since at least 1989, affecting 64 models, including some sold under the Toyota brand which also are being suspended.

In April, it said it had been falsifying crash test results for four of its models, involving a total of 88,000 vehicles made in Thailand and Malaysia in 2022 and 2023.

In May, it announced it was halting production in Japan of two hybrid vehicle models because of similar "irregularities", including the Toyota Raize SUV, manufactured on behalf of its parent company.

Founded in 1907 to manufacture internal combustion engines, Osaka-based Daihatsu launched its first three-wheeled vehicle in 1931, before being taken over by Toyota in 1967.

Freeze until end of January

The suspension will last at least through the end of January, Daihatsu said Monday, dealing a blow to its more than 8,000 suppliers as well as its parent company, Toyota Motor.

The Toyota unit normally makes 4,000 cars per day in Japan. The automaker, which had about 9,000 employees at its domestic factories as of April, produced about 870,000 units in the last fiscal year.