Toyota production in Japan hit by parts crunch from COVID-19

By YURI KAGEYAMA
AP Business Writer

TOKYO (AP) — The shortage of parts caused by the coronavirus pandemic is further denting production at Toyota, Japan’s top automaker. It will halt production at 11 plants in Japan for three days, on top of reductions planned in February. Supplies are running short because of a lack of computer chips. Toyota says this will reduce production in January by 47,000 vehicles. That means the automaker will fall short of the 9 million vehicles planned for the fiscal year through March, despite healthy demand. The pandemic has disrupted other areas including shipping, the oil supply and meat packing. An analyst said supply problems aren’t expected to end soon and are costing manufacturers as much as $50 million a week.