Toyota has confirmed it will temporaily suspend some shifts at its French plant, which builds the Yaris (Vitz), over two months.

“There will be a few lines stopping in March and April but it is just a few shifts,” a Toyota Motor Europe (TME) spokesman in Brussels told just-auto on Monday. “There will be one week closing at the beginning of April and one non-production day on 31 May. There will be four days of closing from 6-9 April.”

The spokesman added discussions with union representatives had taken place at the French plant near the Belgian border in Valenciennes and that, for the coming months, production “is adapted” with the forecast.

“There is nothing that goes outside the current agreement with employees,” he said.

Toyota’s decision to scale back work at its French plants during March and April came after last week’s news of plans to stop production at its UK Derbyshire car assembly and Deeside engine factories for a further week at Easter.

Valenciennes can built up to 270,000 cars a year.

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