Toyota Motor Corp will suspend US sales of eight models subject to a massive safety recall, an unprecedented move that sent its shares tumbling and raised questions about the timing of its earnings recovery.
Toyota said it would also halt production of the models, including the best-selling Camry, at plants in the US and Canada in the first week of February.
Shares in the world’s biggest automaker suffered their biggest slide in eight months, falling 4.3 percent in a Tokyo market down 0.7 percent yesterday.
PHOTO: EPA
Last week, Toyota announced it would recall 2.3 million vehicles in the US to fix potentially faulty accelerator pedals, its second large recall in four months in the US, its biggest market.
The series of recalls threaten to damage Toyota’s reputation for safety and quality that helped it ascend to the top of the global auto industry.
“This unprecedented automotive decision indicates how serious a safety problem this is,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at Edmunds.com. “We’ve gone from floormats to recalls for wear items to a full shutdown, and I can’t help but think that the company’s credibility is being called into question.”
Toyota said the production halt would initially last a week before being reviewed. Officials could not recall a sales or production suspension resulting from vehicle defects on such a scale.
Toyota is considering whether it needs to issue a recall in Europe as well, where the same parts are used for some models.
The sales and production suspension could also affect its earnings in the near term.
“The recall itself won’t be a big problem for Toyota’s earnings, but suspending production and sales could have a big impact depending on how long it lasts,” said Koji Endo, an auto analyst at Advanced Research Japan.
The sales suspension and recall includes Toyota’s top-selling vehicle in North America, the Camry, for model years since 2007.
Also included are the 2009 and 2010 model RAV4, Corolla and Matrix, the 2008 through 2010 Sequoia, the 2007 through 2010 Tundra, the 2005 to 2010 Avalon and the 2010 Highlander.
Annual combined sales of these models are 1 million cars in North America, more than half of Toyota’s annual sales there last year, according to Endo. It is more than 2,700 units a day or 19,000 cars a week.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique