Japanese officials raid a Toyota group plant after the company admitted cheating on engine testing
CTV
Japanese transport officials raided a Toyota-affiliated plant Tuesday after the company admitted to cheating on engine testing, as Toyota Motor Corp. reported it sold over 11 million vehicles in 2023 to retain its status as the world's top car manufacturer.
Japanese transport officials raided a Toyota-affiliated plant Tuesday after the company admitted to cheating on engine testing, as Toyota Motor Corp. reported it sold over 11 million vehicles in 2023 to retain its status as the world's top car manufacturer.
Hours after the probe began at Toyota Industries Corp.'s plant in Hekinan, Aichi Prefecture, central Japan, Toyota Chair Akio Toyoda vowed to steer the company out of scandal and ensure the Japanese automaker's group companies stick to "making good cars."
"My job is to steer the way for where the overall group should go," Toyoda said.
He apologized, bowing deeply, and stressed the group vision was rooted in the Toyoda founding family's ideas of empowering the "genba," or the workers on the plant floor, "to make good cars that lead to people's happiness."
The testing scandal comes at a time of otherwise stellar performance for Toyota, which makes the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models. Its group global vehicle sales for 2023 were a record 11.22 million vehicles, up 7% from the previous year and topping Volkswagen AG of Germany's global sales of 9.2 million vehicles.
Toyoda spoke in a news conference that was live-streamed from a memorial hall in Nagoya that serves as a museum for the founding family. Sakichi Toyoda invented the automated weaving loom. His son Kiichiro Toyoda, Akio's grandfather, founded Toyota Motor Corp.
Reporters were called late Monday to Toyota's Tokyo office, where its CEO Koji Sato, who succeeded Toyoda, apologized for the latest mess: flawed testing at Toyota Industries Corp., which makes diesel engines.
