Toyota Motor will reduce auto production in November by 15% from its recent output plan, or around 150,000 vehicles, due to the ongoing shortage of chips and the power crisis in China.
The move comes after the automaker reduce its production by 40% from its initial plan from September to October as the rise in COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia disrupted the supply chain for automobile parts.
Toyota will maintain its worldwide production plan for fiscal 2021 at 9 million vehicles regardless of the latest output cuts.
The automaker will reduce domestic production by around 50,000 vehicles and abroad output by up to 100,000 cars from a forecast it made in September.
Production volume next month is expected to be about 820,000 cars, the same level as November 2020.
The chip shortage, which has hit automakers worldwide, emerges from a confluence of factors as automakers, which closed plants for two months during the coronavirus pandemic last year, rival against the sprawling consumer electronics industry for chip supplies. A factory fire suffered by Japanese chipmaker Renesas this year is also cited as a reason behind the chip shortage.
Toyota is now starting to recognize that China’s ongoing power shortage will affect the production of the parts harder.
