Scandal-mired Daihatsu reshuffles leadership
JAPANESE AUTOMAKER Daihatsu yesterday named a veteran at its parent 39 company Toyota to replace 86,350 its president, as it tries to repair 1,726 the damage from a scandal 166,322 over cheating on vehicle safety tests. 6,102
The troubles at Daihatsu Motor 110,547 Co surfaced after a whistle-blower 86,500
248 reported the cheating. A thirdparty review found violations, such
26 as carrying out tests on just one
513 side of a car when both sides 1,160 had to be tested, that had persisted 262 for decades. 138,306
The appointments of a new president, executive vice-president 143,335 and director highlight Toyota’s 346,363 determination to play a leading 35,239 role in the reforms at its 100 251,891 per
189 cent-owned subsidiary.
7,800 Masahiro Inoue, now overseeing Toyota’s business in South America,
3 will become Daihatsu president, effective in March, Toyota Chief 667 Executive Koji Sato told reporters 746 in Tokyo. 272,357
Inoue replaces Soichiro 54,087 Okudaira, who is resigning. 100,429 Okudaira also had been sent 7,763 in by Toyota. Daihatsu’s Chairman, 39 Sunao Matsubayashi, also resigned, 146,704
17,967 while two other directors left the
11,295 board but kept their positions at
47,920 the company.
2,377 Masanori Kuwata, now at Lexus 200,107 International Co, Toyota Motor Corp’s luxury brand, becomes 113,253 Daihatsu’s executive vice-president 28,287 under the changes announced 68,313 yesterday. Keiko Yanagi, a deputy 450 chief officer at Toyota, was named 60,305 a director at Daihatsu.
Inoue apologised to 1.90 Daihatsu’s 1.95 customers, suppliers and 0.56 dealers, 0.61 saying he knows how 1.40 to be 1.45 a good listener to win people’s 2.20 trust 2.26 because of his decades 43.50 of working 44.00 overseas. 7.93 7.94
“We will make our hearts 0.38 0.39 one and aim for a new start,”Inoue 0.57 said. 0.58
3.13 3.43 Inoue said a business plan will
44.50 45.00 be disclosed in April, including a
83.00 83.75 new managerial direction.
2.32 2.42 The Japanese government 6.30 6.60 has ordered production halted 1.89 on 1.95 an array of Daihatsu models 2.45 until tests 2.55 can be carried out properly 26.50 26.98 and approved. The companies 100.00 107.00 said some production has 10.65 already 10.95 resumed, but work 10.70 on other models will take time.
No major accidents have been reported in connection with the cheating, but the news has raised serious questions about oversight at Daihatsu and its corporate parent Toyota.
Daihatsu has said its workers were under heavy pressure to meet tight deadlines. Management neglected to address problems on the factory floor and the causes of the cheating were complex, Sato said.
Daihatsu has recently handed an investigation of its wrongdoing to the Japanese government. Daihatsu, which has a 100-year history and employs 40,000 people, is known for small models popular in Japan and the rest of Asia.
Daihatsu products are known as kokuminsha in Japan, or ‘the people’s cars’, often used by small businesses for deliveries and transport. Sato said that embodied the spirit of Daihatsu.
He said Daihatsu will fix its corporate culture, management and monozukuri, or ‘the act of making things’, along the basis of the Toyota Way of manufacturing that empowers individual workers.
“We are ready to return to our roots to recreate Daihatsu,” he said.