The ongoing pandemic has already forced Toyota Motor Corp. to scale down its production plans for June 2022. A day later, the automaker adjusted its projections even further, dampened by slow sales in its key markets.
Toyota has downgraded its planned production output for June 2022 twice in a span of just a day
A report from Reuters quoted Toyota as saying Tuesday that 100,000 vehicles will be cut from the 950,000 expected to roll off its factories in June, on account of an ongoing shortage of chips used in vehicle electronics.
That number has sunk even lower on Wednesday as the world’s second-largest car brand shaved off an additional 50,000 vehicles from the plan, citing COVID-19 lockdowns in Shanghai. This was compounded by sales data showing weaker car sales in China, Europe, and the U.S. compared to the first five months of 2021.
The Toyota Land Cruiser, for instance, has a wait list of four years
For now, Toyota expects a global production output of only 800,000 cars to cap off the second quarter of 2022. The projections are gloomy for the rest of the fiscal year ending in March 2023, as the company is bracing for the possibility that its initial target of 9.7 million-vehicle may still be revised. The automaker has advised that models likely to be affected by production cuts include the Corolla, RAV4, Prius, and 4Runner.
Analysts say that the lockdowns particularly in China have a heavy impact on supply and demand, as the country is the world’s largest auto market and a giant in terms of global manufacturing.
Toyota will likely fall short of its planned 9.7 million vehicles by March 2023
Toyota’s domestic assembly lines in Japan have been plagued by intermittent production suspensions since January 2021 due to COVID-19, which has adversely impacted its supply chain for semiconductor chips as well as spare parts.
The latest interruption was in February 2022, when a reported cyberattack on Toyota supplier Kojima Industries forced the automaker to temporarily halt production at 14 out of 28 facilities. Another supplier, GMB Corporation, also fell victim to suspected ransomware.
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