Toyota’s production will not return to normal until the end of the year following last month’s earthquake and tsunami in eastern Japan.
The company said that it expects to see domestic production resuming normal levels from July with what the company calls ‘normalisation’ completing around November or December; production at overseas plants will resume normal levels from August with normalisation complete at about the same time as in Japan.
“To all the customers who made the decision to buy a vehicle made by us, I sincerely apologise for the enormous delay in delivery. Immediately after the earthquake, Toyota, like others, sent its employees into the disaster zone to join forces with our plants, dealers and suppliers to take steps toward recovery. I, too, visited the affected areas several times,” said TMC President Akio Toyoda at a press conference announcing the normalisation timeline.
“I saw people’s efforts first hand, and I was filled with confidence that their hard work would make possible a quicker recovery of production.”