Japan's Hino suspends light truck shipments as data falsification scandal spreads

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Hino Motors Ltd displays its new Hybrid Profia, a diesel-hybrid version of its large commercial truck model at its R&D Centre at Hino in Tokyo, Japan July 17, 2018. REUTERS/Naomi Tajitsu/File Photo

By Satoshi Sugiyama

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Hino Motors said on Monday it will suspend shipments of some small trucks after confirming that a widespread data falsification scandal included those models, highlighting deepening problems at the Toyota unit.

The truck and bus maker told a news conference that during a transport ministry investigation additional misconduct regarding emissions was found that affects more than 70,000 trucks. The ongoing scandal was previously not believed to have impacted the smaller trucks.

Shares in Hino fell around 4% while the benchmark Nikkei 225 share average was slightly weaker.

The Nikkei newspaper earlier reported that the transport ministry found Hino's inspections of engine performance to be inadequate, and that Hino's Dutro model may be one of the small trucks found to be problematic.

The model has been sold since 2019 and the total number of sales is roughly 76,000. Halting the shipments would likely leave the automaker with almost no models to sell in Japan, the newspaper added.

Hino President Satoshi Ogiso told a news conference on Monday the vehicle maker was checking the impact to earnings from the additional misconduct, adding that it hadn't found instances of vehicles exceeding emissions limits.

An investigation report earlier this month by a company-commissioned panel said Hino had falsified emissions data on some engines going back to at least 2003, or more than a decade earlier than previously indicated.

Hino blamed an inward-looking corporate culture and a management failure to engage sufficiently with workers that led to an environment that put greater priority on achieving schedules and numerical targets than following processes.

The vehicle maker also falsely reported to the transport ministry there were no improper incidents in emissions and fuel efficiency tests at the time of receiving certification in 2016, following the revelation of Mitsubishi Motors (OTC:MMTOF) Corp's mileage cheating scandal.