Toyota and Nissan plan to raise production, lack of automotive chips are relieved

Toyota, Nissan, and other automakers plan to increase production, which has greatly reversed the recent trend of production cuts caused by chip shortages.

According to the latest report, Nissan notified its suppliers that the company plans to increase production by nearly 300,000 units in the second half of the year compared to the first half. At the performance conference on Tuesday, Toyota Chief Operating Officer Ashwani Gupta mentioned a clearer view of the semiconductor purchasing situation when discussing the issue of increased production.

For the full year ending in March 2022, Nissan lowered its global sales forecast from 4.4 million to 3.8 million. The automaker raised its operating profit forecast for the full year ending in March 2022 to 180 billion yen ($1.59 billion), which will reverse the 150.6 billion yen loss for the 2020 financial year.

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The report pointed out that Toyota is taking the lead in resuming production. After a 40% decline in production in September, production in November increased by 4%-10% year-on-year. Toyota also hopes to further increase production in December and plans to increase its production by 30% to 1 million units from the same period last year in order to make up for the production gap this summer. Toyota will increase its monthly output to 850,000 units starting in January next year.

Moreover, Honda’s production reduction measures are also slowing. The automaker reduced production by 20% in the first half of this year, equivalent to 535,000 vehicles, and its production in the second half will be reduced by 10% compared to the original plan.

Seiji Kuraishi, Honda’s chief operating officer, said that although Honda is more difficult than competitors in purchasing semiconductors, the company will resume production from the beginning of the new year.

In addition to Japanese automakers such as Toyota, Nissan, and Honda, automakers such as General Motors, Volkswagen, and Ford have also seen the easing of chip shortages and have raised their financial estimates.

However, Tomoyuki Suzuki, managing director of American consulting firm AlixPartners, warned that although parts production is recovering, finding talent will be the focus of the future.