Toyota’s massive recall of more than 6m of its most popular models is being extended to Europe.
Toyota Europe has not stopped production of any models and said that the exact number of potentially affected vehicles was still under investigation. Analysts suggest that 2m on top of the 6m in North America might be affected.
A US report said Toyota had received complaints of sticky accelerator pedals in its European Aygo and Yaris models since December 2008. That could have implications for PSA Group, which shares near-identical models for its Peugeot and Citroen brands built in the same Czech Republic plant. Most Yaris models sold in Europe are built in France.
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Toyota has already stopped selling eight models in North America, including its best-selling Camry in a severe blow to its once enviable record for safety and reliability.
Rivals in North America are tipped to benefit from Toyota’s plight with GM offering Toyota customers payouts of up to US$1,000 or zero-percent financing for up to five years on most of its line-up.
Shares of Toyota fell a further 4% in Tokyo trading on Thursday, taking losses since last week to more than 15% and wiping about US$25bn in value from Japan’s largest company by market capitalisation. Rival Honda rose 3.3% , Nissan was up 2.8% while Korea’s Hyundai, already winning market share globally during the recession, rose 4.1%.
Earlier this week, Toyota forecast that its global sales in 2010 would increase 6% to 8.27m units – a forecast that could be hit by the suspension of sales in two of its key regions. Toyotas made in Japan are not affected since they use different components.
