(News Bulletin 247) – The Japanese group’s shares ended Thursday’s session down 4% after the Japanese Ministry of Transport launched an inspection at the headquarters of its subsidiary Daihatsu.

A turbulent end to the year for Toyota, the world’s leading automaker in terms of vehicle sales. The Japanese group has seen its reputation tarnished by a major safety test falsification scandal surrounding its Daihatsu subsidiary.

This company specializes in particular in “keijidosha” or “kei cars”, a type of vehicle sold in Japan which takes the form of small, light and agile automobiles.

Toyota announced in a press release on Wednesday that an independent investigation had revealed irregularities and falsification of crash tests, which concern a total of 64 models, including 22 from the Toyota brand. Which, according to AFP, affects almost all Daihatsu vehicles. Some of these irregularities date back as far as 1989.

As a result, Toyota announced that Daihatsu had suspended deliveries of all of its models, whether in Japan or abroad.

4% fall on the stock market

“We recognize the extreme seriousness of the fact that Daihatsu’s negligence in the certification process has shaken the very foundations of the company as an automobile manufacturer,” Toyota said in a statement of contrition. The Japanese group has promised a “fundamental reform” to “revitalize” Daihatsu. The Japanese Ministry of Transport reacted by launching an inspection at the headquarters of the Toyota subsidiary.

On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Toyota shares suffered this Thursday, losing 4.03% at the close, a decline which occurs while the group had until then experienced a very good stock market performance, gaining another 40% on the set of 2023.

Daihatsu, which has been fully owned by Toyota since 2016, represents around 4% of the Japanese automobile group’s total sales, according to Bloomberg.

“As voluntary internal inspections detected only one instance where vehicle performance did not meet legal requirements, we believe the risk of a mass recall is low,” wrote analysts at Citi Research in a note cited by the American press agency. “However, if production is suspended for a long period, Toyota could see its operating profit affected by hundreds of billions of yen (billions of euros, Editor’s note),” they added.

Many concessions potentially affected

Quoted by Dow Jones Newswires, Nomura believes that the suspension of Daihatsu deliveries should have “limited” impacts on its accounts.

The Japanese investment bank said it expected a 240 billion yen (1.5 billion euros) impact on Toyota sales, assuming Daihatsu halts production for a month, while its operating profit could be reduced by 100 billion to 150 billion yen (600 million euros to 960 million euros), taking into account compensation paid to suppliers.

According to Nikkei Asia, the suspension of Daihatsu deliveries would also threaten 420 subcontractors and 30,000 dealerships.

The setback for Toyota is all the more significant as it comes a little over a year after another of its subsidiaries, the truck and bus manufacturer Hino, admitted to having falsified its emissions data. some of its engines.

Furthermore, the Japanese group also announced on Wednesday evening the recall in the United States of around 1 million Toyotas for airbag problems.