Osamu Suzuki has stepped down as the CEO of Suzuki Motor Corp over the fudging of testing data which was revealed in April. He is expected to be replaced by his son Toshihiro Suzuki but is expected to now don the role of chairman of the company.
Suzuki had admitted in April that it used improper testing methods for mileage data and that this had affected 2.1 million cars in the Japanese domestic market. Along with Osamu Suzuki, the VP of R&D, Osamu Honda, will also retire as this was one of the departments heavily involved in the scandal.
Suzuki joins a list of automakers who in the last one year have admitted to fudging emission and fuel efficiency data. The most prominent of these is Volkswagen who admitted to using a defeat device on 11 million diesel cars to lower emissions. These changes will come into effect subject to shareholders approval which will take place at their annual meeting on June 29.
The stepping down of Osamu Suzuki will mark the end of an era for Maruti Suzuki. It was under his helm that the Japanese automaker entered the Indian market in 1983 with the M800, a move that changed its fortunes completely. Today the Indian arm contributes to a significant amount of Suzuki’s global revenue and is expected to play an even larger role in the coming years.
