Toyota Motor Corp., has suspended the production of cars at three plants in Thailand. More specifically, these are the Ban Pho Plant, the Gateway Plant in Hua Samrong, and the Toyota Samrong plant.
The Toyota Ban Pho Plant
This news was reported by Reuters who also shared that the closure of these facilities is caused by parts shortage, which in turn is attributed to the spread of COVID-19 in the aforementioned country. As for when these Toyota Thailand plants will return to making cars, no specific date was given. Although, the report said that “it will be determined at a later stage.”
Apart from the Toyota plant closures in the Land of Smiles, Toyota also temporarily ceased the production of cars at its Aichi plant in Japan from August 2 to 4. Toyota Global also released a statement that its Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. Fujimatsu Plant is also suspending the operations of one of it's production lines from July 29 to August 4.
Despite being owned by a subsidiary company, the Fujimatsu facility is important as it produces a number of Japanese domestic models, as well as the Alphard luxury people carrier that’s popular in the Philippine market.
The Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd. Fujimatsu Plant
Going back to the Toyota Thailand Plant closures, this is also very relevant to the Philippine automotive industry, as Toyota Motor Philippines sources most of its top-selling models there. This includes but is not limited to the Hilux, Fortuner, Corolla Cross, Corolla Altis, etc.
It is also important to note that Thailand is the largest car manufacturing hub in the ASEAN region. With the rise of COVID-19 infections in the region, it’s going to be a rough few days for Thailand's automotive industry and the Thai people in general. To put it into perspective, the country has reached 13,655 COVID-19 infections on Thursday, July 22, which is a record high for the country. With all of that said, let’s hope that Thailand recovers.
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