Investors in auto stocks already know this tune. Shares in Hino Motors have plunged after it admitted to cheating on emissions data for years. The business makes bus and truck engines for its parent Toyota and rival Isuzu Motors. The misconduct may have affected more than 100,000 vehicles, or double Hino’s annual sales in Japan. That could be the last straw for its falling stock price.
Hino has halted shipments of trucks and buses that use the types of engines implicated in the misconduct, which goes back at least six years. One of the ways the engine tests were manipulated was by replacing exhaust system components to produce desired emission test results.
Shares fell 28 per cent on Friday and Monday reflecting the serious consequences that could result for Hino. Even after the plunge, shares traded at 10 times forward earnings, nearly double Volkswagen. The German group has already recovered from its own emissions scandal in 2016 for which it agreed to pay up to $14.7bn in legal settlements.