Toyota has announced further reductions to monthly production volumes in May with the lockdown in Shanghai impacting the availability of parts for some popular fleet models.
There are numerous photos circulating which show thousands of container ships waiting in the waters outside Shanghai. They cannot load or unload because the strict government lockdown in Shanghai as they try to control the spread of COVID.
It’s just another stumbling block for global car manufacturers trying to increase production and recover from the pandemic. For Fleet Managers and consumers, it means further delivery delays and uncertainty for the number one selling brand in Australia.
In the latest announcement Toyota said:
We would like to once again apologise for the repeated adjustments to our production plans due to the parts shortage resulting from the spread of COVID-19, which has caused considerable inconvenience to our customers, suppliers and other parties concern.
Due to the impact of the semiconductor shortage, we announced our revised production plan for May. However, as a result of the lockdown in Shanghai, China, we have decided to additionally suspend operations of 14 lines at 8 plants in Japan from May 16 (Mon) to May 21 (Sat).
We had announced that our global production plan for May would be approximately 750,000 units, but due to the impact of the lockdown, it is expected to be around 700,000 units.
The shortage of semiconductors, spread of COVID-19 and other factors are making it difficult to look several months ahead. Still, we will continue to make maximum efforts to deliver as many vehicles as possible to our customers at the earliest possible date.
