Toyota is halting production at all car assembly plants in Japan from 8 to 13 February due to a steel shortage following an explosion at a steel plant of one of its affiliates.
According to Reuters, the automaker said at the weekend a blast at an Aichi Steel plant on 8 January had curbed production of auto steel. Toyota gave no specifics on how car production would be affected.
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"Operations are scheduled to recommence on 15 February and vehicle production on lines outside Japan will not be suspended," Toyota said in a statement.
Toyota said it was looking at options including asking Aichi Steel to produce parts on alternate lines and procuring specialised steel from other makers.
Late last week, it said it had enough inventory to keep the factories running until 6 February, Reuters added.
The report said Toyota produced around 13,600 vehicles a day in December, up 10% from a year earlier, due in part to the start of production of the latest Prius petrol hybrid.
A plant fire at an affiliate supplier brought domestic production to a halt in 1997. Factories came back online around five days later after Toyota used suppliers in its close-knit 'keiretsu' group and other firms to improvise systems to come up with replacement parts.
