Toyota stated Tuesday that operations had been paused at 12 of its 14 Japanese plants owning to a system glitch, but that it did not appear to be a cyberattack.
The world’s largest manufacturer declined to comment on other aspects of the incident, which occurred Tuesday morning.
A Toyota official said, “Twelve vehicle factories, affecting 25 lines, are not able to process orders for parts due to a system glitch. At this point, we believe it is not a cyberattack”.
“We will continue to investigate the cause of the matter and will restore it as soon as possible”, the official added.
It was unclear when normal production would resume. It did not specify whether factories in other countries were affected.
The Toyota facility in southern Kyushu and affiliate Daihatsu’s factory in Kyoto remained operational, according to the spokesperson.
Toyota’s stocks dropped 0.64 percent to 2,421.0 yen as a result of the news.
However, the shock selling appeared to have slowed in Tokyo markets before the lunch break.
Toyota had to shut down all of its domestic factories last year after a cyberattack on one of its subsidiaries.
The corporation is one of the most prominent and respected in Japan, and its manufacturing activities have a significant impact on the country’s economy.
Toyota is well-known for its legendary efficiency and its just-in-time production system, which provides tiny deliveries of required parts and other items at various stages of the assembly process.
This practice reduces costs while increasing productivity and is being researched by other manufacturers and business schools throughout the world, but it is not without risk.
In 2022, the auto behemoth retained its global top-selling auto title for the third year in a run, but, like much of the sector, it has faced pandemic headwinds and the impacts of a global chip shortage.
Nonetheless, Toyota aimed for a net profit of 2.58 trillion yen ($17.6 billion), up 5.2 percent on year, and sales of 38 trillion yen for the fiscal year ending March 2024, up 5.2 percent from the previous year, and sales of 38 trillion yen.
After the COVID-19 outbreak hampered production activities, major automakers are benefiting from a sharp surge in worldwide demand.
Severe semiconductor shortages hampered production capacity for a variety of products ranging from automobiles to cell phones.
Toyota stated that chip supplies were improving and that it had hiked product prices and worked with suppliers to restore normal production operations.
However, the company said it was still suffering difficulties in delivering new vehicles to customers.
