All Daihatsu plants resume production operations

After a four-month hiatus, Daihatsu Motor has resumed production at its plant in Ikeda, Osaka Prefecture, following a safety test fraud scandal that rocked the company late last year. The subsidiary of Toyota Motor has now brought all four of its finished vehicle assembly plants in Japan back online.

The company is now focused on speeding up the delivery of vehicles for which it has received orders, as well as enhancing existing models and developing new ones. In February, Daihatsu began resuming production in stages for models that were deemed safe by the transport ministry.

At the Ikeda plant, Daihatsu will be manufacturing the Copen minivehicle and a model of the same name for Toyota. Despite the resumption of operations, the company expects its production to be less than 80% of the level in fiscal 2022, before the scandal unfolded.

“We’ve caused inconvenience for a very large number of people for a very long time,” said a male worker at the Daihatsu headquarters. “Although we’re still in the process of restoring trust, I think we’ve moved a step forward.”

Daihatsu has implemented strict measures to prevent a recurrence of such incidents, including extending product development periods and increasing safety test personnel. President Masahiro Inoue has expressed confidence that by diligently implementing these prevention measures, the company aims to resume the development of new vehicle models within the year.