Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday its global production in November fell 0.8% to 821,329 vehicles, almost returning to the level a year earlier after months of lost output due to parts supply constraints amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The recovery in production reflected an easing of the supply crunch in Southeast Asia, the automaker said. The November figure marked the fourth straight monthly fall, but the pace of decline slowed compared with double-digit drops in September and October.
Global sales decreased 9.2% to 774,143 vehicles, down for the third consecutive month but showing a recovery trend.
Domestic production fell 7.9% to 275,234 vehicles, while sales in Japan including those of minivehicles declined 18.5% to 116,370 units.
Toyota and other carmakers were forced to curb production in response to global shortages of chips and other parts caused by factory shutdowns in Southeast Asia due to surging coronavirus cases. The chip crunch also reflected rising demand for electronics, with more people staying at home amid the pandemic.
The supply bottleneck meant many customers had to wait for months for dealerships to deliver vehicles.
Toyota is maintaining its global production target of 9 million vehicles for the current fiscal year through March, aiming for monthly output of around 800,000 vehicles in December and January.