COVID Update: Toyota suspends production at three plants

KUALA LUMPUR: Toyota has suspended production at three of its plants located in Ontario, Canada. The reason behind the step is a COVID-19 outbreak at one of its suppliers. Over the past few weeks around eight positive cases have been reported at the automakers Toyotetsu plant in Simcoe, Ontario.

These facilities manufactured four models in particular, including the RAV4, RAV4 Hybrid, RX 450h Hybrid, and Lexus RX 350, all of which production is now halted. Of the list, the RAV4 was the brand’s best-selling product in 2020 with around 430,387 units sold and the RX model registered a total sales of 101,059 examples.

Furthermore, as of March 2021, the RVA4 Prime was announced as the second-best-selling model in the United States. The RAV4 Hybrid occupied 17th position and the Lexus RX450h the 19th spot.

As per Toyota, the COVID-19 cases detected are not linked to on-site transmission. However, the company said that it is “continuing to follow the guidance of public health officials. For this reason, and out of an abundance of caution, we’ve decided to temporarily pause our operations."

When will work resume? Well, Toyota has not given a return date yet, but the automaker indicates that it’ll be sometime after May 1, 2021. Also, the unavailability of vital parts/components has forced not just Toyota but others as well to pause production. For instance, the manufacturing activities at Toyota Canadian assembly facility are on hold at the moment.

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