Toyota Sales and Output Hit Record, But Retreat in China

Toyota Motor Corp. produced and sold a record number of vehicles in June as operations continued to recover from a shortage of semiconductors and other parts.

(Bloomberg) — Toyota Motor Corp. produced and sold a record number of vehicles in June as operations continued to recover from a shortage of semiconductors and other parts.

Global sales, including from subsidiaries Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors Ltd., rose 9% to 968,801 cars in June, Toyota said Friday. Monthly output grew almost 10% to just over 1 million vehicles.

Sales increased the most in Japan, Africa, Europe and North America. However, they slumped almost 13% from a year earlier in China, where a lack of electric models is seeing global automakers like Toyota and Volkswagen AG lose ground to domestic automakers like BYD Co.

Read More: China’s EV Revolution Shows Grim Future for Japan Car Titans

Production in China fell 18% to 167,987 vehicles. Toyota this week said it had dismissed roughly 1,000 contracted factory workers in the country.

Toyota underwent a rare change in leadership earlier this year followed by a campaign to improve public sentiment on its electric-vehicle strategy, and to convince shareholders that it will make good on promises to rapidly expand production of battery-based EVs.

For the first half of 2023, the group’s global output reached a record 5.6 million cars. Global battery EV sales for Toyota and Lexus brands rose 517% in those six months from the same period last year to 46,171 cars.

After former Lexus chief Koji Sato took the helm in April, the world’s largest carmaker by sales promised to sell 1.5 million BEVs annually by 2026. It previously pledged to sell 3.5 million by 2030. Still, the Japanese maker argues that the world isn’t ready yet for a complete shift to EVs, where Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. and BYD are clear frontrunners.

Toyota will announce first quarter earnings next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Honda Motor Co.’s global production in June dropped 4% from a year earlier to 371,837 vehicles, while domestic sales dipped more than 10%, the carmaker said Friday. Output grew about 5% during the first half of 2023, but sales in Japan declined during that period for the second year in a row.

Nissan Motor Co. said it produced 294,468 cars in June, and global output in the first half rose 5.7% to 1.7 million vehicles.

(Adds Nissan sales in final paragraph.)

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