TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor said on Monday its chairman would discuss an investigation it conducted into its vehicle certification applications after Japan’s Transport Ministry requested it.
Chairman Akio Toyoda will hold a press conference at 0800 GMT on Monday, the company said.
The Transport Ministry said separately it will conduct an on-site inspection at Toyota’s headquarters on Tuesday.
The company said irregularities had been found in applications to certify models from Toyota, Mazda Motor, Yamaha Motor, Honda Motor and Suzuki Motor, and that it had ordered Toyota, Mazda and Yamaha to suspend shipments of some vehicles.
The ministry had asked automakers to investigate their vehicle certification applications following a safety testing scandal at Toyota’s compact car unit Daihatsu.
Toyota said Monday it has temporarily halted shipments and sales of three Japanese-made car models. Yamaha said it had stopped shipping a sports motorcycle.
A Mazda spokesman said it would issue a press release explaining its response at 6:50 a.m. GMT, followed by a press conference at 7:00 a.m. GMT.
Honda will also hold a press conference later in the day.
A Toyota spokesperson added that the company is still investigating issues related to vehicle fuel economy and emissions, and aims to complete the investigation by the end of June.
Toyota shares closed 1.8% lower.
The company said it failed to provide sufficient data on pedestrian and occupant protection tests for three production models – the Corolla Fielder, Axio and Yaris Cross – and errors in crash tests and other testing methods for four discontinued models, including one sold under the luxury Lexus brand. .
It added that there were no performance issues that breached regulations and customers did not have to stop using their cars.
In the Daihatsu scandal, a panel found that the unit had cheated side-impact safety tests conducted on 88,000 small cars, most of which were sold as Toyotas.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink and Rocky Swift; additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Kim Coghill and Edwina Gibbs)
