Following a report yr which noticed Japanese automotive big Toyota promote greater than 11.2 million autos worldwide, the corporate has introduced plans to again off the throttle in 2024 – elevating questions on its already prolonged wait occasions for widespread fashions.
In 2023, the Toyota Motor Company (TMC) – which incorporates the core Toyota model, its luxurious Lexus division, the Daihatsu small-car arm and Hino vehicles – set a brand new international automobile gross sales report and have become the world’s best-selling automaker for the fourth consecutive yr.
Nevertheless, Automotive News Europe stories Toyota CFO Yoichi Miyazaki stated in a quarterly monetary report back to traders that the corporate will decelerate its manufacturing fee for the 2024 Japanese monetary yr (which begins in March 2024), forecasting labour shortages and provider burnout as potential weaknesses.
“We glance again on the yr [2023] as if we had been dash runners,” stated Miyazaki-san.
“We want initiatives that may permit us to run a marathon.
“As for the tempo subsequent yr [2024], we are going to re-evaluate and evaluate the cruising velocity.”
It’s not but identified what affect Toyota’s new manufacturing fee may have on wait occasions for its hottest fashions. We’ve contacted Toyota Australia for remark.
Last month, Toyota Australia’s vp of gross sales and advertising, Sean Hanley, informed CarExpert the corporate anticipated to slash wait occasions by mid-2024 to 4 to 6 months – down from highs of 24 months (RAV4 Hybrid) to 12 months (Camry Hybrid) all through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Toyota’s manufacturing ramp-ups have additionally uncovered weaknesses throughout the wider firm, with all 4 of its manufacturers implicated in information falsification or dishonest scandals in lower than two years.
In July 2022, Hino admitted to have falsified emissions information for 860,000 industrial autos globally since 2003.
In December 2023, Daihatsu suspended manufacturing in Japan following the invention that it falsified security information and used unauthorised security testing procedures, relationship again to 1989.
Last month, TMC introduced it had found “irregularities” throughout engine testing of three turbo-diesel powertrains produced by Toyota Industries Company (TICO).
The three engines had been discovered to have been fitted with engine management models (ECUs) throughout certification testing which differed from these in mass manufacturing, with TMC successfully admitting to dishonest official assessments.
Manufacturing of Australian-bound fashions such because the Toyota LandCruiser 300 Series, LandCruiser 70 Series, HiAce and Lexus LX has temporarily been suspended on account of the investigation.
TICO has additionally suspended shipments of the affected engines and autos outfitted with them – which incorporates the HiLux, Fortuner, Granvia and the aforementioned fashions impacted by the manufacturing shutdown.
Toyota CEO Koji Sato later apologised for the scandal, telling Japanese media the corporate’s administration “was not capable of absolutely comprehend and preserve monitor of the small print of what was taking place on the bottom”.
“We recognise that not solely individuals on the testing website but additionally administration didn’t have correct understanding of certification,” he added.