This seems to be a continuation of the whole Daihatsu bullshit storm, and doesn't effect us Americans, and from what I can tell, doesn't effect domestic Japanese models either.
From the article: "Japanese carmakers Honda, Mazda and Suzuki are also due to be inspected by the authorities over the same issue."; those are all major Daihatsu customers pre-Toyota acquisition.
Toyota is essentially being forced to fall on a sword they acquired and no actual corporate wrongdoing (by American standards) seem to have occurred by Toyota executives; all the fault seems to lie entirely at Daihatsu's feet.
Sucks, because a lot of people are going to shy away from what is probably the best car brand in the US, and the only major car company left manufacturing US market cars in the US.
(Why do I specifically phrase it that way? The Big 3 sell most of their US-made cars in Europe with the only actually notable exception being some members of the F150 series; almost all of the Toyota cars sold in the NA market are US and Canadian made.)
I highly doubt many people will even hear about stuff like this, much less care about it. I know I would be just as likely to buy a toyota tomorrow after reading this story, because I've owned them before and they tend to make great cars for a decent price.
Domestic Japanese cars currently sold, from what I can tell, do not use engines produced by Daihatsu. They seem to have moved entirely away from them about a decade ago.
Where Toyota still uses them are export models and models made domestically in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Under Japanese law, Toyota is guilty because Japanese plants made engines that do not comply with Japanese laws, but the engines are not to be used in Japan. Japanese corporate culture is very different than America's, and they consider this a form of wrongdoing.
Although Toyota has been a long term investor in Daihatsu (starting in 1967 and crossing the 50% threshold in 1998; they were approached by Daihatsu's lenders and the Japanese government to help strengthen the post-war car industry to make this investment), they remained an independent company until 2016.
All of Daihatsu's apparent crimes all point to being pre-2016.
This controversy involves Toyota and others falsifying collision safety data, noise data, among many others tested during government certification.
Among the models implicated are Toyota's Corolla, by far one of their most popular models. Honda has twenty two models suspected of falsifying data, the most out of the five manufacturers implicated.
Daihatsu engines aren't even the tip of the iceberg at this point.
If you're correct, then we're looking at the repeat of the whole VW diesel-gate.
Unfortunately, VW is still in business. Something like $30-40B? globally in fines, they still sell diesel and ICE cars, people aren't lining up to buy electric cars (thanks to Elon fucking over the entire industry with his ridiculous bullshit).
Japan didn't blow the lid off the real estate scam in the 1980s, leading to what started as the "lost decade" and is now becoming the "lost generation", I doubt they're torpedo one of their largest export industries and it's just going to push them further into Great Depression-levels of kicking the can down the road until its too late to fix it.
Akio Toyoda and his apparent co-conspirators across the industry won't be fired, won't see jail time, although it may lead to a shuffle in the executive positions to appease the government.
The only thing in question is how much of this was simple neglect, forced out of practicality (deadlines!), or actually malicious. That the falsifications happened and goes well beyond Daihatsu's shenanigans isn't in doubt.
NHK has been spamming their news programs with this controversy, it shouldn't be too hard to read/watch up on it.
> people aren't lining up to buy electric cars (thanks to Elon fucking over the entire industry with his ridiculous bullshit).
Elon's bullshit is far down the list of reasons people aren't buying electric cars. Practical and economic concerns dominate car purchasing decisions, not the politics and antics of car manufacturer executives. Elon talking shit on twitter isn't the reason all electric cars depreciate like milk left on the counter.
Maybe not net negative yet but he's doing his best to undo prior gains in public opinion
For a variety of reasons, over the last few years, general public reaction has shifted from "Ooh! A Tesla!" to "Ew, a Tesla"
FSD promises not met, failure to evolve vehicle designs, the range scandal stuff, the debacle that is the Cybertruck...and yes, also Elon's frequent inability to control his impulses and keep his mouth shut
Well there's your problem, you're thinking about Tesla owners.
People who already own a Tesla already have an electric vehicle. They might replace it at some point, and it may or may not be replaced by another Tesla. But they're already a member of the electric vehicle owning population. They don't need to be convinced to buy an electric vehicle.
I'm talking more about people who own ICE cars today, and their opinions when they see a Tesla, a friend/relative/colleague talks about their Tesla, etc.
Elon's behavior and some of Tesla's corporate actions have impacted the brand image of Tesla. Tesla has, through their prior successes, established itself as the face of the electric vehicle industry. As the Tesla brand image degrades, there is a knock-on effect on how electric vehicles are generally seen by people who are not yet electric vehicle owners.
i know many that have been considering a tesla as next car(currently on diesel/gasoline), and havent heard anyone that expressed they are upset with elon so might not, most are still very eager on tesla, a few are considering smaller mini EVs
I kinda liked the Yaris Cross (from the outside, haven't even considered a test drive yet). Anyone can summarize what was so wrong with it that they stopped manufacturing for now?
> The Big 3 sell most of their US-made cars in Europe with the only actually notable exception being some members of the F150 series; almost all of the Toyota cars sold in the NA market are US and Canadian made
What? First, one of the "US big 3" is Stellantis, which is an European company with significant holdings and market share in the US (Fiat having bought Chrysler, and the two of them later merged with PSA (Peugeot, Citroen, Opel/Vauxhall)). They sell most of their vehicles in Europe because that's where most of their brands and customers and manufacturing is. Funnily last time I was in the US I saw a surprising number Ram vans which are just rebadged Fiat Ducato/Peugeot Boxer/Citroen Jumper.
Second, General Motors doesn't really operate in Europe anymore after selling Opel to PSA, only a few niche sport models.
The third "big three", Ford, has a completely different lineup in Europe because Ford Europe operates quite separately, and was the origin of most smaller than a massive pickup truck Ford designs (Focus, Fiesta, Kuga, Ka etc.), some of which Ford imported to sell to the US market, but none of which were successful. Ford US sells trucks, Ford Europe sells normal cars, compact SUVs and small vans (Ford Transit Connect, which is better than trucks at 90% of what trucks supposedly are for).
> This seems to be a continuation of the whole Daihatsu bullshit storm, and doesn't effect us Americans, and from what I can tell, doesn't effect domestic Japanese models either.
Minor complaint: Affect, not effect, is the correct word here.
From the article: "Japanese carmakers Honda, Mazda and Suzuki are also due to be inspected by the authorities over the same issue."; those are all major Daihatsu customers pre-Toyota acquisition.
Toyota is essentially being forced to fall on a sword they acquired and no actual corporate wrongdoing (by American standards) seem to have occurred by Toyota executives; all the fault seems to lie entirely at Daihatsu's feet.
Sucks, because a lot of people are going to shy away from what is probably the best car brand in the US, and the only major car company left manufacturing US market cars in the US.
(Why do I specifically phrase it that way? The Big 3 sell most of their US-made cars in Europe with the only actually notable exception being some members of the F150 series; almost all of the Toyota cars sold in the NA market are US and Canadian made.)