Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced on April 15 that vehicle production from May 10 to June 3 will remain at half of normal production capacity. Toyota will decide on whether to increase output after assessing the situation of its suppliers and other related companies. The slowdown represents the loss of 120,000 vehicles to the sales market. As inventories of Japanese products continue to drop, Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. have warned U.S. dealers that full deliveries from Japan likely won't arrive until July at the earliest, and perhaps as late as September.Also, Toyota will slash the production schedule at its North American manufacturing plants through June 3. Originally, Toyota had placed its North American plants on three-days-a-week schedules through April 25. For the rest of April and May, that schedule will continue, according to a statement released on April 19 by the automaker.
Canadian production will be suspended the week of May 23 (in conjunction with the scheduled Victoria Day holiday) and U.S. production will be suspended the week of May 30 (in conjunction with the scheduled Memorial Day holiday). No layoffs are planned during this period.
Toyota continues to address its production situation in Japan following a string of natural disasters including a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, a resultant tsunami, a series of equally serious aftershocks that have steadily continued post-quake for a month, and the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant in Sendai Province.
The revised decision follows Toyota's previously announced plan to produce vehicles at all its Japanese vehicle-production facilities from April 18 to April 27 at approximately 50 percent of normal and for all production facilities to enter their annual spring holiday through May 9.
Automotive microcontroller producer Renesas Electronics suffered major damage to its factory in the region, prompting limited access to parts. Toyota has been unable to meet desired consumer specifications for some of their output and has been issuing apologies to the customer base. The limited availability has also affected rivals Honda Motor company, Nissan Motor Company, and overseas competitors including General Motors.
The decreased availability is only one aspect of Toyota's current woes; the other is a heightened sensitivity to concerns over radiation levels in exports. In an effort to ease concerns among international consumers about purchasing Japan-made products, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) has started testing their vehicles for radiation prior to shipments to domestic and overseas markets.
The effort is a reaction to increasing import restrictions on Japanese products. A total of 29 countries and regions have suspended or tightened controls on agricultural and dairy product imports as well as processed foods from Japan.
The JAMA, representing 14 Japanese car, truck, and motorcycle makers including Toyota, reported radiation levels recorded around production sites of Japanese car makers and ports from where vehicles are exported show results that fall within the range determined by the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan to be of no serious threat to human health. According to the JAMA, their conclusion is based on the daily readings performed by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in every prefecture since March 25.