Toyota said it would resume work at two-thirds of its car assembly lines in Japan tomorrow after an earthquake cut off supplies of key components to its factories.
Production at Japanese car makers has nearly ground to a halt after the country's top supplier of piston rings, Riken, was hit by an earthquake on July 16th.
Toyota President Katsuaki Watanabe said today the company would lose about 55,000 units of vehicle output after a complete stoppage at all domestic plants through today and at 11 of the 31 assembly lines at its 12 group-wide car factories tomorrow.
He stressed that shutting down factory production was not alarming under the circumstances and defended Toyota's famed lean manufacturing method as one of its competitive strengths.
Car sales in Japan have declined across the board, but Toyota's domestic factories have been working at full speed to satisfy demand overseas. Toyota exports 60 per cent of its Japan-made vehicles.
Toyota's sales fell 10 per cent in the first half of the year to 826,000 units, but Mr Watanabe said he was counting on new car launches and the Tokyo Motor Show in the latter half to jump-start sales.