Toyota Appoints New CEO at Daihatsu Following Safety Scandal

In a significant development in the automotive world, the prominent Japanese car manufacturer, Toyota, has decided to replace the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its subsidiary company, Daihatsu. The decision comes in the wake of a scandal that has engulfed the company, related to the tampering of crash test results. The CEO in question, Soichiro Okudaira, is thus being ousted as a result of this controversy.

As a replacement for Okudaira, Toyota has decided to bring in Masahiro Inoue, who is currently serving as the CEO of Toyota Latin America. The transition is expected to take place on the 1st of March, as revealed by both companies in a press statement that was released on Tuesday.

Koji Sato, the CEO of Toyota, further clarified that the organizational structure at Daihatsu would be going through a significant overhaul. The top positions within the company will be filled with new faces, and the company’s overseas operations will be brought under the direct supervision of Toyota. A detailed announcement regarding the new leadership structure at Daihatsu is expected to be made in the month of April. Sato expressed his belief that these changes were necessary for transforming Daihatsu into the company that it should ideally be.

The scandal that led to these changes originated in April 2023, when Daihatsu confessed to having manipulated the results of crash tests on some of its car models. Following an investigation into the matter, it was found that there were irregularities in as many as 64 models. These included almost all models from Daihatsu, as well as select cars from Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru. The manipulation was specifically related to the airbags in these cars. The control modules used during the crash tests were different from the ones used in the cars that were sold to customers. It is alleged that Daihatsu has been indulging in such practices since as far back as 1989.