Toyota Motor Corp is to reduce global production by 40 percent next month, the last major automaker to cut production due to critical shortages of semiconductors, the Nikkei business newspaper reported yesterday.
Toyota has fared better than rivals, having built a larger stockpile of chips due to a business continuity plan revamped in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
However, a resurgence in COVID-19 cases across Asia has compounded the semiconductor crunch.
Photo: AFP
Shares in the world’s largest automaker by sales volume slid on the report, ending down 4.4 percent in its largest daily drop since December 2018, pulling the benchmark Nikkei average to a seven-month low.
Toyota had been aiming to manufacture about 900,000 vehicles next month, but has reduced that to about 500,000, the newspaper said.
Toyota this month said that it was facing an unpredictable business environment due to fresh COVID-19 cases in emerging economies, the semiconductor shortage and soaring material prices.
However, the automaker maintained its forecast to sell 8.7 million vehicles worldwide for the fiscal year ending in March next year.
Starting early next month, Toyota would temporarily suspend production lines at domestic factories, including its Takaoka plant in Aichi Prefecture, the newspaper said.
Production in North America, China and Europe are also likely to be scaled back by tens of thousands of units, it said.
The automaker halted assembly lines at some domestic factories from late last month to early this month, including its Tahara plant, due to a surge in COVID-19 infections in Vietnam, which constrained the supply of parts, the newspaper said.
A person familiar with the matter this month told Reuters that Toyota had suspended production at one assembly line in Guangzhou, China, which the automaker operates with its Chinese joint-venture partner Guangzhou Automobile Group Co Ltd (廣汽集團).
In Thailand as well, Toyota last month suspended production at three factories due to a COVID-19-related parts shortage.
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