“We must take the registration framework and procedures seriously, regardless of how busy we may be or how short-staffed we may be,” said Hiroto Saikawa, CEO of Nissan. “We apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers.”
Nissan is currently investigating how the lapse that led to more than one million vehicles missing final inspection by an authorized technician could have occurred. A third party is expected to conduct its own investigation into the matter, Saikawa said.
The automaker tallied a rough preliminary estimate of around 25 billion yen to complete the task, which involves re-inspecting vehicles manufactured for the domestic Japanese market from Oct. 2014 thru Sept. 2017, including the popular Serena minivan and Note compact hatchback.
Sure, it sounds like a lot. Twenty-five billion of anything is a lot. But that’s in yen. Back here in the good ol’ U.S., this figure translates to a paltry $222 million, mere pocket change to an automotive behemoth of Nissan’s ilk. I’m sure they’ll be fine.
The crisis comes less than a year and a half after Mitsubishi admitted it had knowingly falsified the fuel economy on some of its vehicles, resulting in Nissan taking a controlling stake in its Japanese rival.
The problem was first alluded to last week, when Nissan said it would suspend registration of some 60,000 vehicles over unauthorized inspections.
The automaker’s shares fell by more than 5% upon news of the recall, its lowest since April before closing down 2.7%.
Source: BBC News