Nidec is facing renewed investor backlash after disclosing details of quality control misconduct involving motors and other products, compounding the challenges confronting a once-admired manufacturer on top of accounting problems and the exit of its charismatic founder.
Shares in the world’s largest maker of precision motors fell as much as 18% in morning trading in Tokyo on Wednesday — the steepest decline in six months — after Kyoto-based Nidec said the issues involved changes made to materials, processes and designs without approval.
What began as a drawn-out scandal caused by a series of bookkeeping errors has now spread to concerns over the integrity of Nidec’s manufacturing — built over five decades by its founder Shigenobu Nagamori, who famously said he was willing to ignore investors if he thought they were wrong. With the stock trading at roughly a third of its level five years ago and the chairman’s departure leaving a leadership vacuum, Nidec now appears to face a greater reckoning.
