Overview
- Toyota told suppliers on Tuesday that it has widened planned overseas production cuts to roughly 83,000 vehicles through November to reflect weaker demand and logistics disruptions.
- The company cited a Strait of Hormuz blockade and rising fuel prices as behind lower appetite for petrol models and the need to reroute and slow export flows.
- Petrol-engine RAV4s built in China and vehicles on Toyota’s IMV platform, including Hilux, Fortuner and Land Cruiser FJ, are among the models hit hardest by the reductions.
- Toyota has already trimmed about 40,000 domestic units bound for the Middle East and scheduled brief May line suspensions, and it plans a further small domestic reduction between June and September.
- To partly offset lost sales, Toyota will boost Prius hybrid and other EV output and faces the risk of deeper earnings pressure if regional instability or crude markets worsen given its large Middle East export exposure.