The Japanese vehicle manufacturer Toyota Motor Corp announced on Thursday that it will reduce production at its plants worldwide by 40 percent in September due to a semiconductor shortage and measures to curb a new wave of COVID-19 infections.
The largest automotive company in the world by the number of vehicles sold has so far managed the shortage more successfully than its competitors, thanks to the stockpiles it formed after the earthquake and nuclear disaster in Fukushima in 2011. They faltered after a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Asia exacerbated the shortage of key components.
An unnamed director told Reuters that production will be reduced in 15 factories in Japan and abroad in September, and that next month they will produce about 360,000 fewer vehicles than planned. The business environment has become unpredictable due to the repeated rise in COVID-19 infections in emerging economies, semiconductor shortages, and rising raw material costs, they reported this month.
As early as the second half of July and early August, they halted assembly lines in some factories in their home Japan, including the one in Tahara, due to the spread of infections in Vietnam that limited parts deliveries, the business daily Nikkei reported.
According to claims from an informed source, they also suspended assembly at the plant in Guangzhou, China, which they co-own with the Chinese company Guangzhou Automobile Group. Production was also halted in July at three factories in Thailand due to parts shortages caused by the pandemic, Reuters reminds us.
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