TOKYO, Jan 18 (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp 7203.T warned on Tuesday it expects it to miss its production target of nine million vehicles for the year ending March 31 due to the shortage of semiconductors which continues to slow production.
“Reaching the nine million mark is going to be extremely difficult,” Toyota chief executive Kazunari Kamakura said in an online briefing. He added that Toyota could not predict how long the chip shortage would last.
Toyota said it will produce 700,000 cars globally in February, more than last year but 150,000 less than it had expected.
To meet its annual production target, set in September, Toyota will need to produce one million vehicles in March alone.
Rising infections of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 were not factored into the latest production outlook but are nonetheless a concern for Toyota, Kazunari Kamakura said.
Other automakers around the world, such as Volkswagen VOWG_p.DE and Renault RENA.PA, have also been forced to cut production even as demand in key markets like China has picked up.
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(Tim Kelly report; French version Dina Kartit, edited by Blandine Hénault)