William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Nov 08, 2011 11:28AM EST
Severe flooding in Thailand is hurting Toyota, which is still reeling from the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March.
Supply chain disruptions in the wake of the disasters in Japan and Thailand helped push Toyota’s revenue down 5 percent year-over-year in the last quarter to about $59 billion. Profit at Japan’s largest automaker dropped 18.5 percent to about $1 billion in the quarter, the second period in a fiscal year that ends March 31, 2012.
Toyota is also struggling with the high value of the Japanese yen, which is hurting Japan’s exports and could lead Toyota to shift more production overseas.
In the six months that ended Sept. 30, North American vehicle sales dropped 34 percent to 689,000 vehicles, a drop that was partly balanced by rising sales in Asia.
Because of the monsoon flooding in Thailand, however, Toyota halted production at plants in Samrong, Gateway and Ban Pho, Thailand, in October. That could result in 150,000 units of lost production, the Financial Times reports. Those plants won’t reopen until at least Nov. 12, Toyota said in a statement.
The Thai floods are forcing Toyota to cut output and change production schedules in Japan and South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines,Vietnam, Pakistan and Malaysia.
At North American plants, Toyota suspended Saturday production and overtime through Nov. 12, though it said U.S. dealers have an adequate supply of vehicles. Toyota decided not to forecast consolidated vehicle sales, revenue and earnings for its 2011 fiscal year as it assesses the impact of the flooding in Thailand.
Monsoon floods in Thailand have affected thousands of factories since July and many multinational supply chains, threatening the capital city of Bangkok.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc
