Analysis

Toyota to Cut 40-50k Vehicles from January Production

Written by David Schollaert

December 16, 2021

Despite steady improvements across supply chains, the North American auto industry hasn’t seen the last of the semiconductor and related parts shortages. Although most automakers are steadily improving and, in some cases, back to regular production, some downtime continues to be reported.

AutoAssembly2Toyota alone is slashing another 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles from its January production schedule because of the ongoing supply-chain challenges, a company spokesperson confirmed to Steel Market Update.

“Due to ongoing challenges with our supply chain, Toyota will continue to face shortages that will affect production at a few of our North American plants,” she said. “Our teams are working diligently to minimize the impact on production. Though the situation remains fluid, in North America we are projecting a reduction of approximately 40,000-50,000 vehicles in January. We do not anticipate any impact to employment at this time.”

The list of automakers still seeing production cuts or adjustments includes other big names such as Honda and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler).

Stellantis’ assembly plant in Belvidere, Ill., was down for the first two weeks in December, and its planned winter break will follow next week, as is standard for most automakers.

Honda Motor Co. confirmed Dec. 13 that it will continue to manage supply-chain issues that have caused the Japanese carmaker to adjust production at some of its North American operations.

There was little in the way of additional downtime to report at other automakers as of Thursday afternoon.

By David Schollaert, David@SteelMarketUpdate.com

David Schollaert

David Schollaert is deputy editor-in-chief for Steel Market Update. David joined SMU after more than a decade in the metals and mining industry in a myriad of different roles. Much of his early experience and expertise were within the coverage and analysis of steel-making raw materials and served previously as senior editor of the CRU Prices Service. Most recently, however, before his return to market analysis, David held roles as a metals buyer and an operations manager for raw material suppliers. He can be contacted at david@steelmarketupdate.com or 724-720-1008.

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