Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday its domestic output in fiscal 2021 fell 5.4 percent from the previous year to 2,760,843 vehicles, the lowest level in 45 years, due to supply chain disruptions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Global output expanded to 8,569,549 vehicles, a 4.7 percent increase, helped by a solid performance in North America and Asia. It was the first increase in output in three years.
Domestic production was impacted by semiconductor shortages and parts factory shutdowns in Southeast Asia in the summer amid a surge of coronavirus infections.
Toyota's failure to reach its domestic production goal of 3 million cars for the second year in a row demonstrates how serious supply chain issues have been for the company. The company says it maintains that target to protect local jobs.
The supply bottlenecks meant many customers had to wait for months for dealership deliveries, dampening vehicle sales in Japan, including for minivehicles.
The Japanese automaker sold 9,511,558 cars globally, up 4.7 percent to the second-highest level on record. Its domestic sales slipped 9.3 percent to 1,395,920 vehicles, declining for the second straight year to the lowest level since fiscal 2008.
Overseas sales rose 7.5 percent to a record 8,115,638 cars. By region, those in North America and Asia advanced 2.7 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively. Overseas output increased 10.3 percent to 5,808,706 units.
Other than the parts supply crunch, Toyota was forced to slash production in Japan in March when one of its domestic suppliers suffered a cyberattack and a powerful earthquake rocked the country's northeastern region, causing some assembly lines to halt.
Separately, seven other major Japanese automakers, including Honda Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp., released their output data on Wednesday. Total domestic production by the eight companies decreased for the third consecutive year.
With only Mitsubishi able to build more cars than the year before, the eight automakers produced 7,093,641 vehicles in fiscal 2021, down 6.8 percent, due to supply disruptions stemming from the coronavirus lockdowns overseas.
Honda saw a 7.7 percent decline to 634,468 cars, with a company official saying output was the lowest in at least 20 years. Nissan Motor Co. logged the sharpest drop of 13.8 percent to 445,836 vehicles.
Global production of the eight automakers inched down 0.6 percent to 23,216,774 vehicles, while sales sagged 0.5 percent to 24,309,462 units.
Related coverage:
Toyota to launch 1st dedicated EV for luxury Lexus brand in late 2022
