Toyota Stops Yaris Model Sales In Thailand After Safety Concerns: Report

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• During a press conference in Bangkok, Toyota Motor Corp TM announced the sales and delivery stoppage of its Yaris Ativ model in Thailand. 
• Toyota, working with the Thai government to restart sales, took this decision after its affiliate Daihatsu rigged part of the door in side-collision safety tests, as per Reuters.
• Masahiko Maeda, Toyota's CEO for the Asia region, believes that as Daihatsu specializes in producing small cars, the vehicle's relatively large size may have posed a challenge. He said the vehicles customers were using were safe, and the problem likely emerged during the development of the model.
• He added, "If development had been carried out under appropriate conditions, this kind of problem would of course not have happened."
• Last month, Toyota and Daihatsu disclosed the investigation related to changes in the part of the door in side-collision safety tests for about 88,000 small cars for side-on crash safety testing purposes. 
• Of these, around 76,000 were Yaris Ativs cars set for Thailand, the Gulf Cooperation Council (the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman) and Mexico.
• Also related: Toyota Targets Baseline Production Volume of 10.6M Vehicles For 2023; Adds Hint Of Caution
• Price Action: Toyota shares are trading higher by 0.33% at $138.00 premarket on the last check Monday.