Hino Motors Ltd., the truck-making subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corp., posted on Thursday a record net loss of 217.75 billion yen ($1.53 billion) for fiscal 2024 due to criminal penalties in the United States over fraudulent emissions data reporting.

The Japanese truck maker fell into the red from a 17 billion yen net profit a year earlier, further pressured by class action lawsuits in countries such as Canada seeking damages from the company.

In January, Hino reached a settlement with the Department of Justice and other U.S. authorities to pay about $1.2 billion in penalties for the scandal.

The issue came to light in 2022 when the company admitted to submitting fabricated emissions and fuel economy data to transport authorities.

But Hino expects to return to the black for the current fiscal year ending March 2026, projecting a net profit of 20 billion yen. It forecasts sales to drop 11.6 percent to 1.5 trillion yen.

"We are moving steadily toward normalization," President Satoshi Ogiso said in an online press conference.

==Kyodo

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