Toyota Canada says production, inventory good so far

Toyota Canada says the disaster in Japan has so far had limited impact on North American production and sales, though overtime has been curtailed for the time being.

With its 13 North American vehicle and engine plants running normally, the automaker says there remains “adequate inventories” of parts from its Japanese manufacturers.

“In addition, since most parts and materials for Toyota's North American-built vehicles are provided by suppliers in North America, this helps insulate Toyota's North American plants from production interruptions in Japan,” the company said in a release on its website.



Vehicle inventory for Canadian dealers remains good with “adequate levels of supply.” 

Toyota now makes 12 different models in North America, including high-volume vehicles such as Camry, Corolla, RAV4, and Lexus RX 350, and just over 80 percent of all Toyota and Lexus vehicles sold in Canada are made in North America.  
 


Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan is donating 300 million yen (approximately $3.75 million) to support relief efforts.



But while production and sales in Canada remain relatively unchanged, it is another story for Toyota’s Japanese operations, which continue to be hampered by the aftermath of last week’s devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Toyota Motor Corp. said earlier this week it would extend plant closures at all auto facilities until Mar. 22.

It will reopen seven factories tomorrow in Aichi prefecture that make replacement parts, Keisuke Kirimoto, a spokesman in Tokyo told Automotive News.

“We continue to place priority on supporting the relief efforts in the regions affected and ensuring that our team members, the employees at subsidiary vehicle manufacturers and at our suppliers—and all their respective family members—are safe,” the automaker said earlier.
 
“Our utmost concern has been the safety of all Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) team members and team members at our partner companies in the Tohoku region,” company head Akio Toyoda said this week. “TMC has established a company-wide emergency task force to continually assess the situation and take initial measures.”