Toyota has rebuffed media speculation that it is considering trimming its 2012 group global production plan by about 200,000 vehicles, or around 2%, because of a drop in sales in China.
The Mid-Japan Economist newspaper, which is based in central Japan, where Toyota has its headquarters, reported that Toyota may cut its calendar-year production forecast for 10.05 million vehicles, without citing sources.
A Toyota spokeswoman, Shino Yamada, commented: “The figure cited in the report is not based on anything announced by us, and at this time there are no changes to the figures we presented earlier.”
Toyota’s production target includes output at Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors. In early August 2012, Toyota revised its worldwide group production total to 10,050,000, 220,000 ahead of the previous plan and 28% above the 2011 total, with 8,870,000 contributed by Toyota, 1,000,000 by Daihatsu and 180,000 by Hino.
What is certain is that Toyota is again poised to temporarily halt production lines at its plant in Tianjin, northern China in the week commencing 22 October, due to weak demand for its cars in the country. According to a recent Reuters report, citing a Nikkei story, the OEM plans to halve its overall October output in China compared with a year earlier, and may make deeper cuts in the coming months. Production at two of its plants in China was previously suspended from 26 September through 29 September.
Two of the Tianjin plant’s three lines will reportedly be idled for one week starting 22 October, affecting output of sedans such as the Crown and the Reiz. The third line, which makes models such as the Vios subcompact, will be halted for two days, on 22 October and 26 October.
Toyota’s global production [Toyota (including Lexus), Daihatsu and Hino brands] totalled 778,232 units in August, a year-on-year gain of 10.7%, with domestic output up 6.0% at 329,822 and production outside Japan up 14.4% at 448,410. Toyota brand production in the latest month was 693,251 (+10.5%), followed by Daihatsu with output of 71,330 (+10.5%) and Hino with production of 13,651 units (+21.8%). The August totals took Toyota’s global production in the January-August 2012 period to 6,904,333, 45.1% above the total in the first eight months of 2011. Domestic production was ahead 56.9% at 3,132,148, while overseas output was up 36.6% at 3,772,185.
The August production totals were unaffected by recent anti-Japan sentiment in China but the September and October numbers will inevitably show the adverse impact on production and export sales.
The estimate for group worldwide sales in calendar year 2012 was revised to 9,760,000 in August, up from the previous estimate of 9,580,000, with 2,370,000 being domestic sales and 7,390,000 being overseas sales.
The company is scheduled to announce its Q2 FY2013 earnings results on 5 November.
