17 May 2011

Toyota will resume normal production from May 20 2011

Toyota will resume normal production from May 20 2011 : Toyota will resume normal production at its Bangalore plants from Friday. Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM), the company’s local subsidiary, had scaled down operations at the units following the earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan in March, squeezing supply lines of crucial components. In fact, the company had announced suspension of production on Mondays and Fridays between April 25 and June 4.

“TKM’s parts sourcing is getting back on track. Production will return back to normal levels starting May 20. Plans are afoot to recover loss of production and reduce the waiting period. The plant will function on all weekdays and some of the non-working Saturdays,” the company said in a statement.
Toyota further said that the upcoming launch of its Etios Liva hatchback is on track and will take place by end-June, as scheduled. It had earlier postponed the launch in order to bring down the waiting period of Etios sedan and to produce more Etios to clear the backlog.

“The average waiting period for Etios, Innova and Fortuner is three months. After we resume the normal production, we expect the waiting period to come down by a month. By the time we launch Liva, Etios sedan will have a waiting period of two months,” said Sandeep Singh, deputy managing director, marketing, Toyota Kirloskar.

Production schedules at Indian facilities of Japanese players such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan were severely upset due to difficulties in sourcing critical components from Japan following the earthquake and tsunami. Honda Siel had announced a production cut of as much as 50% at its Greater Noida plant in April.

The production cuts reflected in the companies’ sales numbers for April. Honda Siel’s sales dropped 43% to 2,012 units, while sales of Toyota vehicles, barring only Etios, were down around 2,900 units.


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