Toyota to shut Tianjin car factory for one week
Move follows falling sales of Japanese cars triggered by tension over disputed islands
Toyota Motor Corp will shut its production lines in Tianjin for a week, after a drop in sales of Japanese cars triggered by the diplomatic row between China and Japan.
The world's largest carmaker decided to close the factory, which is a joint venture with First Automobile Works, better known as FAW, from October 22 through October 28, Japan's Nikkei newspaper said yesterday.
Toyota, which plans to cut its overall output by half on the mainland this month from a year earlier, may make deeper cuts in the coming months, the paper said.
Two production lines that produce Crown and the Reiz models will be idled for a week. The remaining line, which makes models such as the Vios subcompact, will close for just two days, the paper said. The Tianjin plant produced 500,000 cars last year.
Sales of Japanese car brands tumbled 40.8 per cent year-on-year on the mainland last month amid a rise in anti-Japanese sentiment.
Last month, Toyota's sales on the mainland fell 49 per cent year-on-year to 44,100 units. Honda's were down 40.5 per cent to 33,931 units, while Nissan dipped 35.3 per cent to 76,100 units.