YOKOHAMA, Japan: Nissan said Thursday it was suspending all production destined for the local market, as Japan’s number-two automaker grapples with a mounting inspection scandal that has already seen it recall some 1.2 million vehicles.
The announcement comes weeks after the company admitted that staff without proper authorization had conducted final inspections on some vehicles intended for the domestic market before they were shipped to dealers.
On Thursday, it said a third-party investigator found the misconduct had continued at three of its six Japanese plants even after it took steps to end the crisis, something its president blamed on “old habits.”
“You might say it would be easy to stop people who are not supposed to inspect from inspecting,” Nissan president Hiroto Saikawa told a press briefing Thursday.
“But we are having to take (new measures) in order to stop old habits that had been part of our routine operations at the factories.”
“What is necessary is to make our people realize that what they thought was OK was in fact bad.”
This month, Nissan said it was calling back around 1.2 million vehicles produced and sold in Japan between 2014 and 2017 for re-inspection, after government officials found some final inspections were being done by staff not certified to do them.
Nissan produced 1.015 million vehicles in Japan in its last fiscal year to March, with about 400,000 units sold locally.
“Those customers who trusted the measures that we took and purchased our vehicles, we violated their trust,” Saikawa said.
“This is a serious problem.”
Saikawa, who took over the top position from Carlos Ghosn earlier this year, has said the crisis was likely to cost the firm around ¥25 billion.
“We are trying to change what has become a part of a routine,” he told reporters, adding that the suspension would likely be in force for about two weeks.
He insisted that the issue did not affect the quality of Nissan’s vehicles.
“Rather than whether we are building good and safe vehicles, this is about whether steps that were supposed to be followed were followed,” he added.
Nissan’s original announcement in early October came just days before Japan’s Kobe Steel found itself embroiled in a scandal as it admitted to falsifying quality data in products shipped to about 500 clients — including Toyota and the country’s iconic bullet trains.
The back-to-back scandals tarnished Japan Inc’s reputation for quality and were the latest in a string of negative headlines for the country’s firms, once the envy of the world.
Airbag maker Takata went bankrupt this year after spending years dealing with defective products that were linked to 16 deaths and scores of injuries worldwide.
And Mitsubishi Motors last year admitted that it had been falsifying mileage tests for years.
Scandal-hit Nissan suspends production for Japan market
Scandal-hit Nissan suspends production for Japan market
Saudi Arabia’s cultural sector is a new economic engine between Riyadh and Paris, says ambassador
RIYADH: Culture has become a fundamental pillar in bilateral relations between France and Saudi Arabia, according to the French Ambassador to the Kingdom, Patrick Maisonnave.
Maisonnave noted its connection to the entertainment and tourism sectors, which makes it a new engine for economic cooperation between Riyadh and Paris.
He told Al-Eqtisadiah during the opening ceremony of La Fabrique in the Jax district of Diriyah that cultural cooperation with Saudi Arabia is an important element for its attractiveness in the coming decades.
La Fabrique is a space dedicated to artistic creativity and cultural exchange, launched as part of a partnership between the Riyadh Art program and the French Institute in Riyadh.
Running from Jan. 22 until Feb 14, the initiative will provide an open workspace that allows artists to develop and work on their ideas within a collaborative framework.
Launching La Fabrique as a space dedicated to artistic creativity
The ambassador highlighted that the transformation journey in the Kingdom under Vision 2030 has contributed to the emergence of a new generation of young artists and creators, alongside a growing desire in Saudi society to connect with culture and to embrace what is happening globally.
He affirmed that the relationship between the two countries is “profound, even cultural par excellence,” with interest from the Saudi side in French culture, matched by increasing interest from the French public and cultural institutions unfolding in the Kingdom.
Latest estimates indicate that the culture-based economy represents about 2.3 percent of France’s gross domestic product, equivalent to more than 90 billion euros ($106.4 billion) in annual revenues, according to government data. The sector directly employs more than 600,000 people, making it one of the largest job-creating sectors in the fields of creativity, publishing, cinema, and visual arts.
Saudi Arabia benefiting from French experience in the cultural field
Maisonnave explained that France possesses established cultural institutions, while Saudi Arabia is building a strong cultural sector, which opens the door for cooperation opportunities.
This comes as an extension of the signing of 10 major cultural agreements a year ago between French and Saudi institutions, aiming to enhance cooperation and transfer French expertise and knowledge to contribute to the development of the cultural system in the Kingdom.
He added that experiences like La Fabrique provide an opportunity to meet the new generation of Saudi creators, who have expressed interest in connecting with French institutions and artists in Paris and France.
La Fabrique encompasses a space for multiple contemporary artistic practices, including performance arts, digital and interactive arts, photography, music, and cinema, while providing the public with an opportunity to witness the stages of producing artistic works and interact with the creative process.
