Toyota Vietnam temporarily suspends distribution of Avanza MT related to Daihatsu's fraud

Toyota Vietnam has just made its first moves after the safety test fraud scandal of Daihatsu - a subsidiary of Toyota Group, was clarified by the Independent Investigation Committee.

Previously, on December 20, the news agencyReutersDaihatsu Motor (a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation) has announced that it will suspend all production and distribution activities worldwide after discovering that most of the company's car models were affected by the safety test fraud. Accordingly, in addition to the violations discovered in April 2023 related to side crash tests of cars as well as car door components, Daihatsu was also found by the Independent Investigation Committee to have many irregularities at 174 points in 25 test categories.

There are about 64 car models directly produced or jointly produced by Daihatsu involved in this scandal, of which 22 models were developed or supplied to the Toyota brand and some brands such as Mazda and Subaru.

In Vietnam, in the past 5 years, Toyota Vietnam (TMV) has distributed many car models directly manufactured by Daihatsu, or developed under the Toyota brand. These include Toyota Raize, Wigo, Avanza Premio, Veloz Cross... Most of these are imported from Indonesia and thousands of cars have been distributed to car consumers in Vietnam. Therefore, information about Daihatsu's safety test fraud scandal has also made many car consumers in Vietnam interested and worried.

Most Toyota car owners in Vietnam are concerned about whether Toyota cars developed and distributed in Vietnam by Daihatsu are affected or not (?!). Regarding this incident, on the afternoon of December 21, TMV made the first announcement.

Accordingly, immediately after information related to Daihatsu's safety test fraud scandal was announced, TMV said: "Toyota Vietnam has proactively suspended the delivery of all batches of vehicles related to Daihatsu to dealers, to confirm more specific information for the Vietnamese market. However, after investigating the details of the above abnormalities, TMV only stopped delivering 1 affected vehicle model in Vietnam, the Avanza Premio manual transmission (MT) version."

According to the investigation results of the Independent Third Party Committee, during the emission and fuel consumption testing abroad, there was 1 inappropriate modification on the Avanza Premio MT model. However, according to TMV, "In Vietnam, Avanza Premio models all comply with the regulations during testing and are certified to meet Vietnamese standards."

Currently, TMV has temporarily suspended the delivery of the Avanza Premio MT model to dealers, as the certification of this model overseas is being reviewed by independent inspection and certification agencies. TMV has also reported this case to the management agencies to explain the above fact and seek opinions on this matter, and is also considering resuming the delivery of the Avanza Premio MT model after receiving information from independent inspection and certification agencies overseas.

Toyota Avanza Premio is a model in the popular 5 + 2 seat MPV segment. After 11 months of 2023, TMV has sold 3,082 Avanza Premio cars to the market.