Slowing down: Eighty six year old Suzuki Motor Corporation chairman and chief executive Osamu Suzuki has quit as CEO but stays on as chairman.

SUZUKI Motor Corporation chairman and chief executive Osamu Suzuki will step down as CEO in the wake of revelations that the company falsified fuel economy tests in Japan.

The move, which is subject to approval by shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting on June 29, comes less than a month after Mitsubishi Motors Corporation president Tetsuro Aikawa fell on his sword after admitting to fuel consumption data manipulation stretching back 25 years.

Mr Suzuki will stay on as chairman, although, as previously reported, the 86-year-old automotive czar – one of the longest-serving leaders of any major global car-maker – last year put in place an apparent successor with the appointment of his son, 57-year-old Toshihiro, as president.

Toshihiro Suzuki

It is not yet clear whether Toshihiro Suzuki will now become CEO as well as president, or if another executive is brought forward.

Suzuki Motor Corp executive vice-president and chief technology officer Osamu Honda, 66, will also now retire at the end of the month, subject to shareholders’ approval. A replacement is still to be announced.

In a statement, Suzuki said Osamu Suzuki’s monthly compensation after July will be reduced by 40 per cent for six months, and Toshihiro Suzuki will be hit by a 30 per cent cut over the same period.

Directors of the company will fully waive their bonuses for the 2015 financial year, while senior managing officers and managing officers will have theirs reduced by half.

As well as a sliding scale of pay cuts for other senior personnel, Suzuki said that disciplinary measures will be taken against all managers who were involved in the data manipulation, which dates back to 2010.

Japan’s fourth-biggest auto-maker also announced measures to ensure that data rigging does not reoccur, including conducting more intensive education and training of engineers, clarifying who was responsible for the data manipulation, strengthening internal checking systems, and consolidating testing facilities and improving the “measuring technology”.

The company added that it would improve the auditing system for its engineering operations and “promote utilisation of the whistle-blowing system”.

Meanwhile, reports out of Japan earlier this week said Mitsubishi’s fuel economy scandal had broadened to additional models beyond those already named.

The company refused to comment on the allegations, other than to say its internal investigation was continuing.

In April, Mitsubishi admitted to overstating the fuel consumption data on four mini-cars sold in Japan, including two produced for Nissan. About 625,000 examples of the so-called ‘kei’ cars are affected by the scandal.

By Terry Martin