Toyota Motor Corp.'s truck arm Hino Motors Ltd. said Wednesday it posted a record net loss of 117.66 billion yen ($882 million) in fiscal 2022 for the third straight year of red ink, pressured by a special loss linked to an engine data falsification scandal.
The truck maker's net loss widened from 84.73 billion yen the previous year as it booked an extraordinary loss of about 92.2 billion yen to cover compensation to its customers and suppliers and recall costs in relation to the data fabrication.
"We were pursuing more expansion than we could handle," President Satoshi Ogiso said at an online press conference. "We will go back to square one."
Hino admitted in March last year that it had submitted fabricated emissions and fuel economy data to transport authorities. The government subsequently revoked approval for the engines that had been put on the market using falsified data, leaving it unable to mass-produce them.
Sales rose 3.3 percent to 1.51 trillion yen last fiscal year as its business in Southeast Asia picked up. Operating profit slumped 48.5 percent to 17.41 billion yen as the company was also hit by rising material costs.
Hino expects to return to the black for the current fiscal year, helped by the recent resumption of vehicle shipment and special gains from land sale. The company projects a net profit of 10 billion yen on sales of 1.7 trillion yen.
The Japanese truck maker said the same day that it will cancel its tie-up with Traton SE, a group company of Volkswagen AG, to focus more on their own businesses.
