TOKYO: Toyota Motor Corp expects to lower its production target of 9.7 million vehicles for the financial year through March 2023, the Japanese automaker said today, in the first admission that it will miss an ambitious goal.
Analysts and even some group companies had cast doubt on prospects for achieving the record-high output plan, and a spokesman attributed the shortfall to a scarcity of semiconductor chips.
A revised target will be disclosed once the outlook becomes clearer as the company examines the impact on future production, the spokesman added.
In a statement, Toyota said it planned to turn out about 800,000 vehicles worldwide next month, or about 100,000 short of the average monthly production plan for September through November presented on Sept 22.
The firm will suspend 11 production lines at eight domestic factories next month, affecting the output of a wide variety of vehicles including the Corolla, RAV4 and Yaris, it added.
Toyota slashed its global production target for last financial year three times, from 9.3 million in May 2021 to 8.5 million this February. It ended up producing about 8.6 million vehicles in the last financial year, which ended on March 31.
