Developments in the Daihatsu safety test fraud scandal, which led to the cessation of vehicle production by Daihatsu and Toyota, led to changes in Toyota's leadership in Latin America and Brazil. Thus, Toyota do Brasil will have the first Brazilian president in its history.
Masahiro Inoue, CEO of Toyota Latin America and the Caribbean (TLAC), has been appointed president of Daihatsu and will replace Soichiro Okudaira effective March 1. President of Daihatsu Sunao Matsubayashi will also leave the company and his position will be vacant.
The companies stated that under the new structure, “we will fully implement the necessary measures to prevent this from happening again and work to revitalize Daihatsu in the future.”
Masahiro Inoue has worked in Latin America for 16 years and took over as Toyota CEO for the region in 2019. With Inoue's return to Japan, Rafael Chang takes over as CEO of TLAC, President of Toyota do Brasil since 2017.
Evandro Maggio, Toyota's current Director of Purchasing and R&D for Latin America and the Caribbean, thus becomes the first Brazilian President of Toyota do Brasil.
The new presidency will face the launch of the Yaris Cross, a compact SUV with flexible hybrid mechanics, in December this year. This model will be the result of an investment of R$ 1.7 billion, dedicated to the manufacture of the model in a flexible hybrid version at the Sorocaba (SP) plant.
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Interestingly, the Toyota Yaris Cross that will be designated for Brazil is the model sold outside Japan and Europe called the AC200. It is a larger car and is based on the DNGA platform, originally designed by Daihatsu. It will be smaller, simpler and cheaper than the well-known TNGA platform, which is used in the Corolla and the Brazilian Corolla Cross.
What happened to Daihatsu?
At the end of 2023, crash tests were revealed (Crash tests) corresponding to more than 88,000 vehicles that were defrauded by Daihatsu in order to improve their ratings. This discovery generated negative repercussions in Japanese society and the company was forced to provide compensation for the error to the local government.
It all started in April, when Daihatsu itself discovered, through a complaint report, that tests were conducted incorrectly. The automaker then informed Japanese regulators and halted production of the affected models.
Since then, the company has combed its activities following the scandal involving its subsidiary Daihatsu. Toyota Yaris and Production of the Yaris Cross, which is scheduled to come to Brazil in 2024, has been suspended, along with the Toyota Rays and its twin brother, the Daihatsu Rocky. aThe violations also affect Mazda, Perodua and Subaru models.
Investigations found that Daihatsu had been cheating on tests for even longer. It turned out that the airbags tested in models such as Toyota Townes, Pixis Joy and Mazda Bongo were different from those sold to the public. There was also False statements about headrest impact tests and certain impact speed tests. The investigation also found that the fraud has been in existence since 1989.
It was the last case Manipulating Toyota Hilux and SW4 engines during certification tests. according to Reuters, The power curve of the 2.8 turbo diesel is designed to look smoother than it actually is. Periodicity Kyodo News He knows that tampering occurred in the torque curve. There will also be two other diesel engines involved in this issue. The case did not extend to cars sold in Brazil.
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