Toyota's global sales doubled to record high in April

Nagoya – Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday its global sales in April doubled from a year earlier to 859,448 units, a record-high for the month, as auto demand continues to recover from a slump caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Toyota also doubled global output from a year earlier to 761,459 units, as the Japanese automaker has seen robust demand in China and the United States despite a global semiconductor shortage that has hit the auto industry. Both sales and production rose for the eighth straight month.

The firm has weathered the impact of the pandemic well compared with its domestic rivals, though uncertainty remains over the outlook due to the pandemic and the global chip shortage.

Toyota reported a 2.3-fold increase in overseas sales to 735,431 units, the largest-ever for April, buoyed by brisk sales of sport utility vehicles in the United States and luxury Lexus brand cars in China.

In its home market Japan, sales, including minivehicles, rose 27.1% from a year earlier to 124,017 units thanks to the popularity of the Harrier SUV and Yaris compact car.

Overseas output marked a 3.1-fold increase to 493,854 units, a year after production was partly suspended in North America and Europe. In Japan, 267,605 units were churned out in April, up 22.7%, Toyota said.

The global chip crunch since late last year has forced automakers to cut production. But Toyota has been relatively unscathed compared with its competitors such as Nissan Motor Co., which expects a production cut of around 250,000 units in the business year through next March.

Still, Toyota has announced a plan to suspend operations at two plants in Japan for up to eight days in June, which will likely reduce output by 20,000 units amid the shortage of semiconductors.