Massive Toyota Recall Expands to Europe; Will Cost Up to $550 Million Per Month

Toyota Motor Corps. massive recall of eight models of their vehicles is now expanding to Europe. Millions of the company's most popular cars have been recalled due to dangerous accelerator pedals.

Toyota said that it had not yet determined how many vehicles in Europe would be recalled or when, but analysts and media in Europe are estimating that 2 million cars may be affected on top of the roughly 6 million cars in North America.

The recall and halt of sales and production in the U.S. of eight models have damaged Toyota's once stellar record for safety and reliability. The timing couldn't have been worse either, as the automaker was already struggling to recover from a downturn in the industry as well as growing competition.

On Thursday, shares of Toyota fell another 4 percent, taking losses since last week to more than 15 percent. This has wiped out about $25 billion in value to Japan's largest company.

A spokesperson for Toyota Europe said that the models and exact number of affected vehicles was under investigation, but that there was no need to stop production there. On Wednesday Toyota offered to replace floor mats and pedals on another 1.1 million US cars if customers wanted, and should the same offer be extended to Europe, that would be another 2 million cars. That would bring the total to 8 million, which is nearly the same as its group global sales last year.

Cars in Japan do not use the faulty parts in question.

Analysts are saying that the financial damage to Toyota stemming from the recalls would depend on how long production is shut down, and how badly consumer confidence is shaken. Analysts are predicting that the sales and productions suspension could cost the automaker at least $550 million in profit per month.