Toyota Motor prepares to cut production in North America by almost a third through October because of the coronavirus crisis and expects it will take some time for production to return to normal, a person knowledgeable with the matter said.
Toyota will make about 800,000 vehicles, including its RAV4 SUV crossovers and Camry sedans, at plants located in the United States, Canada and Mexico from April through to the end of October, the person informed Reuters.
That’s decrease of 29% from the Japanese automaker’s production in the same seven months of 2019 and 32% less than its forecast in January for production during the period.
A Toyota spokeswoman refused to discuss the production plans.
The decrease in Toyota’s production highlights the struggle for automakers across the world because of the fallout from the coronavirus. Besides weak demand, problems with procurement and social distancing measures at factories are also expected to impact output.
Toyota is gradually restarting output at its seven North American sites from this week.
Its production in many countries was stopped in mid-March as governments enforced restrictions on movement to control spread of the coronavirus, forcing factories to close.
The source stated the automaker plans to keep May production at less than 10% of last year’s levels – following zero output in April – before increasing to normal levels in July.
By September, monthly vehicle production will be outpacing levels of 2019, as Toyota catches up with lost output.
North America is a major production center for the automaker with the United States alone accounting for about 14% of its global output in last year, making it the automaker’s third-largest factory hub after Japan and China.
Toyota is set to announce its full-year financial results on Tuesday.
