Asia Tech Wire (Jan 31) -- Toyota Motor Corp. chairman Akio Toyoda apologised to the public in Nagoya, Japan, on Tuesday for the recent spate of engine data scandals at the auto group.

Speaking at the Toyota Group Vision Briefing, Akio Toyoda said, "Group companies such as Toyota Industries Corp. and Daihatsu Motor Co., Ltd. have been committing irregularities one after another, cheating on certification tests and delivering large quantities of goods to the market that should not have been sold."

He pointed out that the group companies had lost their way in the pursuit of success and appeared to have reversed their values and priorities. As head of the group, he promised to lead efforts to make changes.

Following the discovery of data manipulation in forklift engine emission tests in March last year, Toyota Industries Corp. (TICO) was exposed on Monday to data falsification in three of its diesel car engines as well.

These engines come in 10 models, including the Toyota Land Cruiser, and Toyota announced on the same day that it was suspending shipments of the models in question.

By TICO's latest fraud scandal, Toyota and Hino Motors, Ltd. have suspended some of their production lines in domestic factories in Japan on Monday.

Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) said it will investigate TICO's irregularities and the extent of their severity in order to impose appropriate penalties.

Last December, Toyota suspended shipments of all models from Daihatsu over allegedly rigged collision test data for some of Daihatsu's models.

Toyota on Wednesday announced the resumption of production and shipments of the Probox, an MPV model outsourced to Daihatsu, saying it will deliver the cars to customers as soon as possible.