After some artful dodging to avoid the heaviest blows from COVID-19 and the global microchip shortage — bobbing and weaving to briefly jump ahead of General Motors to lead U.S. market share — Toyota Motor Corp., its North American subsidiary and its retailers are about to take it square to the chin.
Globally, the automaker said last week it expects to lose about 360,000 vehicles of production in September — a 40 percent hit. In North Am- erica, output is expected to be cut up to 170,000 through the end of next month: an estimated 60,000 to 90,000 vehicles in August and 80,000 in September.
Toyota and Lexus dealers, who have seen Toyota Motor North America's U.S. sales soar 43 percent through July while getting by for months with some of the leanest inventories in history, will see that trickle of vehicles dry up further.