Toyota to discontinue production at five European plants

As per the latest reports, Japanese auto giant Toyota will stop production at five European plants for many days in the month of April and May because of the shortage of parts after the March 11 earthquake in Japan.

Non-production dates will fall between April 21 and May 2

In a prior notice, the company also informed that the plants in Britain, Turkey, France and Poland would reduce the volume of production in May for managing the supply of the available parts.

Many leading automakers in Japan have completely halted their production due to the devastating effect suffered by the huge earthquake and the tsunami. The major factor behind this is the breaking down of the crucial supply chains and the frequent power cuts forcing the plants to be shuttered.

The three vehicle production plants of Toyota to be affected by the latest production issues include Burnaston in England, Adapazari in Turkey and Onnaing in France. Apart from this, the production at engine manufacturing facilities in Jelcz-Laskowice in Poland and in Deeside, Wales, will also be stopped.

Eight non-production dates have been decided by the company which will fall between April 21 and May 2 however; these dates clashed with some previously planned public or company holidays at some facilities.

Production halt will add to the loss of the company

Didier Leroy, President and CEO of Toyota Motor Europe said in a statement, “Even though most of our parts come from European suppliers, we are experiencing gaps in our supply chain due to the situation in Japan." He further added, "By adjusting our production in Europe, we are adapting to the current situation whilst not completely interrupting our deliveries of vehicles to our customers."

It has already been announced by the company that all output operations at most of its 14 North American factories will remain suspended for four to five weekdays in the later part of this month.

Toyota will start the production at its factories in Japan from 18 April until 27 April but the speed will be half of the normal production rate.
The production halt at this point will add to the loss of the company as it was already in the recovery phase from a recall crisis which had put a question mark on the quality of its vehicles.

The company recalled nearly nine million autos between late 2009 and February last year due to brake and accelerator defects blamed for killing dozens.

This crisis hit the firm's reputation to a great extent and also raised questions about its decreasing share in the market.