Toyota Motor Corp. reported this Thursday that it is slowing production at up to 11 plants in Japan due to the increase in Covid-19 infections among its workers and parts suppliers.
That interruption, which occurs in the middle of a semiconductor shortage which is already forcing the company to slow down, could cut production plans this month by about 47,000 vehicles, a company spokesman said.
Toyota it said on Tuesday that it hopes to miss the annual target of making 9 million vehicles because it doesn’t have enough chips. The company’s business year ends on March 31.
Japan is experiencing a surge in cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus since the beginning of the year. Daily Covid-19 cases on Thursday rose to a record 46,199.