Toyota says it will slash global production for September by 40 per cent from its previous plan, becoming the last major automaker to cut output due to a global chip crunch, but it maintained its annual sales and production targets.
Toyota's success in navigating the chip shortage better than rivals has come down to its larger stockpile of chips under a business continuity plan adopted after the 2011 earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
The world's largest automaker by sales volumes reiterated its global production target of 9.3 million vehicles for the year ending in March, as well as its plan to sell 8.7 million cars in the period.
Toyota said the September cuts included 14 factories in Japan and overseas plants, and that the company would reduce its planned global production that month by around 360,000 vehicles.
Of these, 140,000 will be at Japanese plants, with the rest in the United States, China, Europe and other Asian countries.
Carmakers worldwide have been cutting production due to the months-long chip shortage, but a resurgence in COVID-19 cases in Japan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia — home to auto factories and chip plants — have led to stricter curbs and compounded the crisis.
Toyota shares closed down 4.4 per cent in their biggest daily drop since December 2018, pulling the benchmark Nikkei average to a seven-month low.
