Toyota Motor Corp saw a slight drop in global sales last month due to lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and a chronic shortage of semiconductors for automobiles, the Japanese automaker said.
Sales, including Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd, fell 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 795,847 vehicles, while production rose 8.4 percent to 819,727 units, the world’s No. 1 automaker said yesterday, adding that the shortages were worse a year earlier, resulting in an output increase last month.
The numbers come about a month before Lexus International Co president Koji Sato is set to take over as Toyota CEO in April, as production recovers from pandemic lockdowns, supply chain problems and a stubborn component shortage.
Photo: Reuters
Domestic sales and production rose year-on-year for the third month in a row, with Japan sales climbing 18 percent to 186,998 units, Toyota said.
The company’s third-quarter profits surpassed estimates, but the automaker kept its conservative outlook for the fiscal year ending March in line with its previous forecast for operating profit of ￥2.4 trillion (US$17.62 billion).
Separately, Nissan Motor Co is accelerating efforts to electrify its vehicle models in Europe and Japan, as a growing list of nations impose deadlines to phase out gasoline-powered vehicles and competition mounts from domestic and overseas rivals.
The Japanese automaker now expects 98 percent of its sales in Europe to be hybrid or fully electric in fiscal 2026, up from its prior target of 75 percent set in November 2021, the Yokohama-based company said in a statement yesterday.
For its home market, it anticipates 58 percent electrified vehicle sales, up from 55 percent.
Nissan, which released the Leaf — the world’s first mass-produced battery electric vehicle (EV) — in 2010, is now seeking to catch up with Tesla Inc in the US and Volkswagen AG in Europe.
The Japanese auto manufacturer has committed ￥2 trillion to electrify more of its lineup and make battery-powered vehicles a key driver of future growth.
Nissan chief operating officer Ashwani Gupta said in a briefing that the company plans to introduce 27 electric models, including 19 EVs, by fiscal 2030, up from the previously planned 23 models and 15 EVs.
As a result, 55 percent of Nissan’s sales, including for the Infiniti brand, are expected to be from EVs, the automaker said.
EVs comprised 13 percent of global sales in the third quarter of last year.
Nissan plans to fully localize US EV production and comply by 2026 with Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) subsidy requirements, including the decarbonization of its Tennessee plant, Gupta said.
The law, passed in the US last year, provides generous incentives for selling EVs, but has stringent requirements on manufacturing and supply-chain sourcing. The company is targeting 40 percent of sales to be EV-only by fiscal 2030.
“The IRA is giving us the opportunity to speed up electrification in the United States,” Gupta said. “We have completed the path to comply with the IRA.”
Nissan cut its electrification target in China to 35 percent from 40 percent in fiscal 2026. In China’s market for battery-powered EVs, Gupta said local brands are “leading the way,” and as such Nissan is to release an EV SUV in 2024.
“This is the new way Nissan is going to work in China, for China,” he said.
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