Toyota dials down December output plan after slashing annual target by 500K vehicles

TOKYO – Toyota Motor Corp. is dialing down global output in December after it slashed its fiscal year production outlook by half-a-million vehicles due to ongoing supply chain upheaval.

The world’s biggest automaker said on Tuesday that it expects to make only 700,000 vehicles worldwide next month, including 250,000 in Japan and 500,000 overseas.

Production suspensions will affect four lines in three plants in Japan alone.

Interrupted products include the RAV4 crossover and 4Runner SUV, as well as a slew of Lexus nameplates such as the Lexus GX, NX, UX and RX utility vehicles, and the ES sedan.

Toyota blamed the downgrade on “future risks, such as the shortage of semiconductors.”

The pace tapers off from Toyota’s trending rate of work lately.

In recent months, even as Toyota cut output from original plans, production was expected to clip along around 800,000 units.

Toyota said last month it would scale back its full fiscal year production forecast, after stubbornly clinging to it for months. But it did not offer a revised target at the time.

Earlier this month, it warned output would fall 500,000 units short of its initial plan. It now sees 9.2 million vehicles in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2023, instead of 9.7 million.

Toyota cut its production plan as operating profit fell 25 percent in the July to September quarter.

Nevertheless, Toyota's downwardly revised production target still represents an all-time high and a big jump from its record of 9.08 million vehicles in the fiscal year to March 31, 2017.

The target counts output for the Toyota and Lexus brands only, it does not cover consolidated figures for the Daihatsu minicar or Hino truckmaking subsidiaries.