Toyota suspends car production in Japan due to massive ‘system glitch’
- Toyota planned to halt operations at all 14 factories in Japan because of a system glitch, but said that it did not appear to be a cyberattack
- It remains unclear when normal production might resume and whether production at Toyota’s overseas plants had been affected
Toyota Motor will suspend operations at all of its assembly plants in Japan from Tuesday afternoon due to a malfunction with its production system, it said, likely bringing domestic output to a standstill for the world’s top carmaker.
Toyota was looking into the cause of the problem, a spokesperson said, adding it was “likely not due to a cyberattack”. The malfunction has meant it has not been able to order components, the spokesperson added.
Toyota suspended operations at 12 of its plants from Tuesday morning, with two remaining online. All 14 will be suspended from the second shift on Tuesday, the spokesperson said, adding the amount of lost output was unclear.
It was not immediately clear exactly when normal production might resume. It did not say whether factories abroad were affected.
The news sent Toyota’s stocks 0.6 per cent lower at 2,421.0 yen. But the selling seemed to have slowed before the midday break in Tokyo markets.
Last year, Toyota had to suspend all of its domestic factories after a subsidiary was hit by a cyberattack.
The company is among the most important and respected companies in Japan, and its production activities have an outsize impact on the country’s economy.