TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor Corp on Wednesday said it missed its already downgraded global production target for May, falling short for the third month running, as China’s COVID-19 lockdowns and semiconductor shortages continued to bite.
The world’s largest automaker by sales said it produced 634,940 vehicles globally last month, a 5.3% decline from the same month last year and short of its target of about 700,000.
Toyota in mid-April said it planned to produce 750,000 vehicles in May but soon lowered that by 50,000 due to COVID-19 containment measures in Shanghai.
Domestically, production slumped 28.5% in May, but rose 4.6% overseas.
Europe was among regions where production increased because it was not hit as hard by the chip shortage. Production also rose in countries including Thailand and Indonesia which were significantly affected by COVID-19 outbreaks last year.
Still, May’s figure is another sign of worry about whether Toyota can meet its global production target for the year ending March.
So far, it has not changed its goal of a record 9.7 million vehicles, but has said its production plan “may be lower” due to the semiconductor shortage and spread of COVID-19.
In January-May, Toyota’s global production averaged 713,172 vehicles a month, 9.7% below its cumulative initial monthly average forecast of 790,000 units.
For June, the automaker has twice downgraded its global production target. The latest forecast is 750,000 vehicles, roughly 12% below than the original estimate of 850,000.
(Reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
