Toyota Temporarily Closes All 6 European Plants Due to COVID-19... Production Down 14% Last Month

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Due to the widespread outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Toyota will temporarily suspend operations at all its factories in Europe.

According to Kyodo News on the 30th, Toyota decided to temporarily close its factory in Russia from today until April 4th.

Previously, Toyota had suspended operations at factories in six European countries: the United Kingdom, Turkey, France, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Portugal. Toyota expects the restart of these factories to be no earlier than April 20th.

Accordingly, Kyodo News reported that all Toyota factories in Europe will halt operations from the end of this month to early next month.

According to Toyota, global automobile production last month totaled 625,750 units, a 13.8% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Last month, Toyota's production in China was 15,311 units, down 77.4% from the same period last year.

Kyodo News analyzed that the sharp decline in production volume was influenced by the suspension of operations at four complete vehicle factories in China due to the spread of COVID-19.