Due to the impact of the March 11 disasters, Toyota said on July 22 that domestic production in the first half of 2011 tumbled 38%.
Domestic sales slipped 41% in the six months to June to 500,638 units.
The earthquake and tsunami hammered auto production, shattered supply chains and crippled electricity-generating facilities. Amid the power and parts shortages, Japanese automakers slowed output or closed factories temporarily in Japan and abroad amid a chronic shortage of key parts. Since then production has returned to a recovery path.
Toyota said it produced 249,660 units domestically in June, or 84.1% of production levels at the same time a year ago, compared with 21.6% in April and around 70% in May.
The automaker's production abroad stood at 344,179 units in June, 96.4% of the same month last year.
Last month, Toyota said it expected domestic output -- excluding subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino -- to return to about 90% of pre-quake levels in June thanks to a faster-than-expected recovery of parts supplies.
Toyota rival Nissan said domestic production decreased 18.3% year-on-year to 449,492 units, due to the effect of the earthquake and the impact from the end of a government subsidy program for environmentally friendly vehicles. However, it said global production in January-June increased 11.1% year-on-year to 2,144,745 units, reaching a record high for that period.
However, Honda Motor Co., saw a slump in June production with domestic output at around half of last year's levels due to the residual effects of a shortage of electronic parts, rubber products and coating materials a drag on the company's production globally. "The parts supplies have returned to the normal level in late June, so the company expects the production will come back to the pre-quake levels in July and August," Honda spokesman Atsushi Nemoto said.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
