Toyota Motor Corp plans to cut production in North America by almost a third until October due to the coronavirus crisis, and expects production to take some time to return to normal, said a person familiar with the matter.
Toyota will build approximately 800,000 vehicles, including its RAV4 SUV crossovers and Camry sedans, in factories in the United States, Canada and Mexico from April to the end of October, the person told Reuters.
This is 29% less than the Japanese automaker's production in the same seven months of 2019 and 32% less than its January production forecast for the period.
The source declined to be identified as the information is not public.
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A Toyota spokesperson declined to comment on the production plans.
The drop in Toyota production highlights the pain of automakers around the world due to the consequences of the virus. Besides weak demand, purchasing problems and social distancing measures in factories are also expected to affect production.
Analysts expect a slow and uneven recovery from the pandemic to cut spending, while social remoteness can also reduce the need for some to travel, reducing the need for new cars.
Toyota is gradually resuming production at its seven North American sites from Monday.
Its production in many countries stopped in mid-March when governments blocked economies, forcing factories to close because workers were unable to travel.
The source said Toyota plans to keep May production below 10% of last year's levels, after zero in April, before climbing back to normal levels in July.
By September, monthly vehicle production will exceed levels of the previous year, with Toyota making up for lost production.
North America is a major production center for Toyota, as the United States alone accounts for about 14% of its world production in 2019, making it the third factory center of the automaker after Japan and China. .
Toyota announces annual financial results on Tuesday.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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