If it weren’t for the safety scandal at its Daihatsu subsidiary (which came about a year after a mis-reporting scandal at its other main subsidiary, Hino) Toyota could be forgiven for feeling a little smug as it reported a 14% operating margin for its fiscal third-quarter and again raised its full-year forecast. Having been derided in some quarters as a ‘legacy automaker’, the company is reaping significant gains from the strategic choice it made not to rush into the BEV sector before it was confident.
