China: Toyota slashes production due to Covid lockdown in Shanghai

Toyota says it will suspend operations at more production lines at its factories in Japan this month due to the coronavirus lockdown in Shanghai, media reports said.

The firm says the production halt will come into effect on Monday and stay in place until of end of next week, the BBC reported.

It is the latest big car maker to announce that it is being impacted by the Covid-19 measures in China.

Meanwhile, Tesla has reportedly halted most production at its Shanghai plant due to problems with sourcing parts, the BBC reported.

"Due to the impact of the semiconductor shortage, we announced our revised production plan for May," Toyota said.

"However, as a result of the lockdown in Shanghai, China, we have decided to additionally suspend operations of 14 lines at 8 plants in Japan from May 16 (Mon) to May 21 (Sat)," it added.

The company previously said it planned to produce around 750,000 vehicles globally this month but said it had now cut that forecast by about 50,000 due to the lockdown.

Also on Wednesday, Toyota revealed that its quarterly profit had slumped by a third as it felt the impact of production disruptions caused by a global shortage of computer chips and China's Covid-19 restrictions, BBC reported.

The world's biggest car maker by sales posted an operating profit of $3.56bn for the three months to the end of March, well below market expectations.

The company's shares were around 4.5 per cent lower in Wednesday afternoon trade on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Toyota's announcements came as Shanghai is in its sixth week of an intensifying lockdown that has made it increasingly difficult for manufacturers to operate amid tough restrictions on the movement of people and materials.

It is the latest example of a major car maker being forced to cut back production as a result of the lockdown in Shanghai, BBC reported.