Daihatsu Halts Vehicle Production at Company’s HQ Plant in Osaka; All Manufacturing Stopped

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:17 JST, December 26, 2023

Daihatsu Motor Co. on Tuesday temporarily stopped production at the plant at the company’s headquarters in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, that was its only factory still operating after revelations surfaced that the automaker had falsified vehicle safety tests.

With the stoppage, automobile production at all four of Daihatsu’s manufacturing plants in Japan has halted.

It is likely that Daihatsu will be unable to manufacture automobiles until at least the end of January.

The plant at the company’s headquarters produces the Copen model, a convertible sports minicar.

Employees continued to commute to the plant on Tuesday morning because equipment will be checked and the factory will be cleaned while production is suspended.

Some of the plant’s employees have taken leave, and Daihatsu has presented a plan for wage compensation during the stoppage. The amounts will be on the same level as those paid while the company suspended operations at plants during the coronavirus pandemic.

Daihatsu suspended production on Monday at its plants in Oyamazaki in Kyoto Prefecture, Ryuo in Shiga Prefecture and Nakatsu in Oita Prefecture.

Twenty-seven models are manufactured at the four plants, and about 930,000 units were made in fiscal 2022.

With production halted until at least the end of January, the company will likely not manufacture more than 70,000 vehicles.

There are worries that the stoppage will affect parts makers. Daihatsu directly purchases parts from 423 suppliers alone, and there are concerns that anxiety may spread to them as their earnings and ability to keep workers on the payroll could be negatively affected.