Toyota to halt Japan production for a week after blast at supplier

Toyota assembly Japan

Toyota, the world's top-selling automaker, will stop producing vehicles at all assembly lines across Japan for an entire week because of a parts shortage.

The Japanese company said Monday the shortfall was caused by an explosion about three weeks ago at a plant operated one of its suppliers, Aichi Steel.

The shutdown will run from February 8 to February 13, Toyota (TM) said in a statement.

The giant automaker produced nearly 3.2 million vehicles in Japan last year, an average of more than 60,000 a week.

"Toyota will continue to take any measures necessary to minimize the impact of this incident on vehicle production," the company said, suggesting it could get steel from other suppliers.

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Vehicle production outside Japan won't be suspended, it added.

The planned halt didn't appear to have alarmed investors. Toyota shares were up around 1.9% in afternoon trade Monday in Tokyo, broadly in line with the wider market.

Toyota maintained its grip on the title of world's top-selling automaker last year, eclipsing its scandal-plagued German rival, Volkswagen (VLKAF).

Aichi Steel, which has deep ties with Toyota, has said it believes the explosion at its Chita plant on January 8 may have been caused by a gas leak.

It says it hopes to restart activity at the damaged part of the plant by the end of March.




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