Osamu Suzuki will step down from his chief executive office role effective June 29, but will stay on as chairman of the company, Suzuki said in a statement. The Japanese investigators have been looking into verifying the matter by raiding the automaker’s headquarters to collect further probes.
Advertisement
Suzuki said that it plans to introduce improvements including better training for engineers and strengthening of its mileage testing systems, says report. In light of this, CEO and Chairman Osamu Suzuki announced today that he will step down.
Following nearly four decades running Suzuki Motor, Mr Suzuki, 86, conceded that a one-man band style of leadership was no longer fitting for a company that has grown to be Japan’s fourth-largest carmaker. Toshihiro Suzuki became chief operating officer and executive vice president a year ago.
Suzuki Motor Corp chief executive Osamu Suzuki on Wednesday announced that he would give up his chief-executive title over admission of major flaws in its fuel tests. Japan’s regulations require automakers conduct “coasting” tests conducted on roads and using actual vehicles. The testing methods used were not approved by Japanese regulators.
Globally, the reporting of fuel economy and pollution ratings is under especially close scrutiny after Volkswagen of Germany admitted past year that it had installed software in 11 million diesel vehicles to cheat on emissions tests.
The automaker said it was hard to obtain consistent data at its testing facility, located on a hill near the sea in Shizuoka Prefecture, without them being affected by weather conditions.
Advertisement
On May 18, Suzuki Motor had stated that it had used the wrong methods to test the fuel economy of its cars in Japan, but claimed that these didn’t make the final results very different.
