Deepika Agrawal 
Toyota Motor is working to restart its Japanese vehicle plants from this week after the New Year’s Day earthquake impacted operations. However, it would decide separately about operations from January 15. The country is still facing aftershocks from the magnitude 7.6 earthquake that ravaged its western coast. Many of Toyota’s suppliers and their affiliates were located in the affected areas, leading to issues in supply chain. Toyota then said that it would use parts in stock outside those areas to mitigate supply woes.
The company’s President Koji Sato on Friday said that the company was seeking to understand the supply chain situation after its suppliers Aisin and Sumitomo Electric suffered damage from the temblor. As of last week, around 80% of 200 companies with plants in the quake-hit areas had resumed production or are planning to resume soon, Industry Minister Ken Saito said.
After the earthquake jolted Japan, more than 100 people have been confirmed dead and more than 200 are still missing after quake struck the Noto peninsula, on the coast northwest of Tokyo. In the last few days, the country has been covered in a thick blanket of snow, making rescue operations even more difficult.
In recent years, Toyota has suffered a series of production issues, including in October when it was forced to halt part of its domestic production for 10 days after an explosion at a supplier’s factory caused a shortage of spring components. In March of 2022, a cyberattack on another supplier resulted in a production halt at all of its factories in Japan.
In a separate development, Toyota Motor’s global production jumped 11% in November, reaching a record level, bouncing back from the previous year’s supply chain disruptions. It surged on the back of robust demand both in Japan and overseas. Output last month reached a whopping 926,573 vehicles, while the company’s worldwide sales increased 14% from a year earlier when automakers globally were struggling with shortages of semiconductors. The production figures include Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand as well.
