Osamu Suzuki (center bottom) and Osamu Honda (center top) are resigning from Suzuki Motor Corp. in response to a Japanese emissions scandal.
Tokyo, Japan – The emissions scandals that led to high-profile executive departures and the sale of Mitsubishi Motors to Nissan has snagged another titan of Japan’s automotive industry – Osamu Suzuki, 86, chairman and CEO of Suzuki Motor Corp.
Also leaving the company is Osamu Honda, executive vice president at the automaker. Directors at the company are waiving bonuses, and top executives are taking pay cuts as high as 50%.
In a report filed with Japanese authorities late last month, Suzuki engineers say they miscalculated fuel consumption for vehicles starting in 2010, claiming higher fuel economy than the vehicles could achieve. Company officials blamed the miscalculation on the lack of internal engineering resources, in part because of the global economic collapse of 2008 and 2009.
In the wake of Volkswagen’s admissions that it had dramatically overstated the cleanliness of diesel emissions from its cars sold in the United States and Europe, automotive regulators worldwide have increased testing of vehicles. In Japan, both Mitsubishi and Suzuki have been found to be in severe violation of standards.
Nissan engineers discovered the problems at Mitsubishi because of a partnership between those companies, under which Mitsubishi built some cars for Nissan. Last month, Nissan agreed to buy a controlling stake in Mitsubishi for $2.2 billion, cash the automaker needed to pay fines and find a fix for the flawed vehicles.
Suzuki, though not a major operator in the United States, is Japan’s fourth largest car company, behind Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.
Source: Suzuki Motor Corp.