The March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan caused severe problems to automakers all around the world, mainly due to the lack of parts, but at least Toyota seems to be recovering at a faster pace than expected. Today, the world’s largest automaker said production at its North American facilities will rise to approximately 70 percent of normal in June, up from around 30 percent in May when it was forced to idle factories for several days or reduce shifts.
The company attributed the recovery to improvement in parts availability from Japan, which came as a result of countermeasure activities implemented by the suppliers that were affected by the crisis.
“Our team members and suppliers are working closely on countermeasure activities to improve the parts condition from Japan. We continue to develop solutions in order to restore 100 percent production as soon as possible for all of our North American-made vehicles,” said Steve St. Angelo, executive vice president of Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America.
Toyota said eight models including, the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Highlander, Matrix, Sequoia, Sienna and Venza will return to full production in June, with normalized production across its range expected to be achieved before the end of the year.
