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Suzuki’s CEO Resigns Over Rigged Fuel Economy Ratings

Suzuki Motors Corp. CEO Osamu Suzuki says he will resign his post later this month, accepting blame for the company’s unauthorized test methods to calculate fuel economy ratings—even though retesting the cars resulted in higher fuel economy ratings.
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Suzuki Motors Corp. CEO Osamu Suzuki says he will resign his post later this month, accepting blame for the company’s unauthorized test methods to calculate fuel economy ratings—even though retesting the cars resulted in higher fuel economy ratings.

Executive Vice President Osamu Honda also will resign. The company has cancelled bonuses for board members for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Osamu Suzuki and his son Toshihiro Suzuki, who took over as president last year, will accept pay cuts of 40% and 30%, respectively, for six months.

The elder Suzuki says he will retain the chairmanship because of his responsibility to prevent the illegal testing methods from being used again.

The actions stem from the company’s admission that it estimated fuel economy ratings for 26 of its minicar models rather than actually conducting so-called “coast-down” tests. Suzuki says there are 2.1 million affected cars in Japan.

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