AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/03 Report--

Recently, affected by the previous illegal incidents such as data fraud, the sales of Dafa cars decreased significantly in February. Data show that Daihatsu sold just over 9000 vehicles in Japan in February, down 82 per cent from the same period last year. Relevant data show that Daihatsu previously accounted for 33% of domestic small-engine car sales, but Daihatsu's market share fell to 8% in February.

Of course, the sharp decline in sales of Dafa cars has something to do with the illegal counterfeiting operations that occurred before. In April last year, Japan's Daihatsu Motor announced that the front door lining (Door Trim) of its four models had been improperly modified in side crash tests, violating the testing procedures and methods stipulated in the regulations. It is understood that the door lining of these models has been modified to have notches, which can minimize the risk of testing. The models involved are the new 2023 Perodua Axia, Toyota Vios, Toyota Agya and a new car that has not yet been launched since August 2022.

Although officials apologized after finding the problem and suspended shipments. However, in May last year, Daihatsu's two hybrid models were found to have violated the side impact test. Instead of submitting the test data of the driver's seat and the passenger seat respectively, the passenger seat data were submitted to the Japanese Ministry of Land and Transport as the driver's seat data, including the Daihatsu Rocky and Toyota Raize. In December last year, Dafa Motor was once again exposed that 64 models and 3 engines were falsified. Because of the wide range of models involved, Dafa announced in December last year that it would suspend sales of all Dafa developed models made in Japan and overseas. At the same time, Daihatsu's three vehicle factories in Japan have also announced that they have stopped work one after another.

It is not difficult to see that because of these counterfeiting and illegal operations, Dafa has announced several times that it will stop sales. At the same time, violations at the end of last year also led to the shutdown of the Dafa automobile plant. On January 24, due to the influence of improper behavior in the vehicle test, the vehicle involved may not meet the safety standards, and in the event of an accident, the door may be locked, making it difficult to open from the outside. Dafa announced a recall of two of its models, involving up to 322740 models.

Against the backdrop of the suspension of sales and production and the massive recall, it is understandable that Dafa's sales were poor in February.

Data show that Dafa Automobile was established in 1907, the scope of business is mainly for the expansion of the field of small cars, is a subsidiary of Toyota. It is worth noting that, or affected by several illegal counterfeiting incidents, Dafa Motor also carried out personnel adjustments a few days ago. Toyota announced in February that Seiichiro Oping, president of its subsidiary Dafa Motor, would resign and be replaced by Masahiro Inou, chief executive of Latin America and the Caribbean, effective March 1. At the same time, Matsuka Chun, chairman of Dafa, stepped down on March 1.

It is not known whether this personnel adjustment will lead to an increase in sales of Dafa cars. But it is undeniable that the frequent exposure of fraud will not only have an impact on sales, but also have a negative impact on the reputation of the brand.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat