The widening scandal at Japan's Hino Motors over falsification of engine data has become a headache that won't go away for parent Toyota Motor Corp, adding to a difficult year already complicated by multiple production halts.

South Korean consumers' inflation expectations fell in August after six months of rises, a central bank survey showed on Tuesday, while their assessment of economic conditions improved.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Shares of Japan's Hino Motors, Toyota Motor Corp's truck and bus unit, slumped more than 6% on Tuesday, after a data-falsification scandal widened to small trucks.

SEOUL (Reuters) -A new U.S. law excluding electric vehicles assembled outside North America from tax credits could persuade South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co to bring forward the start-date for construction of an EV and battery plant in the United States to as early as this year, Yonhap news agency reported on Monday.

Shares of Japan's Hino Motors, Toyota Motor Corp's truck and bus unit, were down more than 4% and the top loser on the Nikkei index on Tuesday, after its engine-related misconduct widened to small trucks.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's Hino Motors will suspend shipments of small trucks after confirming that a widespread data falsification scandal included those models, it said on Monday, highlighting deepening problems at the Toyota Motor Corp unit.