Toyota has told suppliers in Japan to prepare for ramped-up production in 2012 and following years, signalling that the troubled automaker is confident it is back on a growth track after being hit by massive recalls and the tsunami disaster.
Citing unidentified Toyota officials, Kyodo News reported that the plan for 2012 called for production of 8.9 million vehicles - a record for Toyota - with 3.5 million built in Japan and 5.4 million overseas.
Spokesman Paul Nolasco confirmed that there was a meeting with suppliers earlier this week so they could be ready to increase production but declined to confirm the numbers, saying they were guidelines, not targets.
He said Toyota was pursuing a growth plan again, having recovered from the production disruptions caused by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in north-eastern Japan that destroyed key suppliers of car parts.
Toyota said on wednesday it planned to make 8.04 million vehicles around the world in 2011. It was targeting global sales of 10 million for 2009 when it was hit by the financial crisis and also suffered a serious blow to its reputation for quality with huge global recalls and complaints about unintended acceleration, mostly in the US.
Two days before Japan was struck by the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, president Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company’s founder, outlined a global strategy aimed at achieving an industry first of annual sales of 10 million vehicles by 2015. - Belfast Telegraph