Toyota records fall in global sales and production

KUALA LUMPUR: With all the news we are getting, 2020 is shaping to be one of the worse years for the automotive industry. While some automakers are adjusting their financial forecasts for the fiscal year 2019-2020, others are recording an all-time low sales and production numbers.

Joining Mitsubishi Motors Corporation in the financial dip is another automotive giant that is struck by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Toyota Motor Corporation recently announced its global production and sales figures for FY 2019-2020, and it doesn’t look good.

It is for the first time in eight years that Toyota has recorded a fall in global sales. The company’s worldwide sales decreased by 10.7% in the first quarter of 2020, same time last year it sold 2,064,989 units. While the effects in Japan are tolerable - 5.1% fall with 422,084 units sold, sales outside the country witnessed a fall of 12.1% at 1,642,905 units.

Since January 2020, the automaker experienced a fall in sales globally. In March 2020, Toyota experienced its third consecutive month of low sales, to be precise, the figures were down by 23.8% when compared to the same period last year. Since most countries imposed lockdown last month, the significant portion of the sales slump came from was from outside Japan, i.e., 29.1%.

Besides sales, the automaker also reported a decline in its worldwide production. In March, Toyota suspended vehicle and parts production in North America. Also, Toyota temporarily suspended operations of several plants in April due to the pandemic and fall in demand. For FY 2019-2020, the Japanese automaker recorded a 2.2% fall in production, thus marking its first year-on-year decrease in two years. The situation got worse in the first quarter of 2020 as global production decreased by 13.6% compared to the same period last year.

Though the figures severely dropped in FY2019-2020, the company can still count on FY2020-2021. The Europen governments have begun relaxing the lockdown regulations with some automakers resuming the production. The rest depends upon the recovery of the world economy.

Also Read: Nissan Thailand extends factory shut down till May 31