Toyota Motor Corp. had notified its parts suppliers by Tuesday that it plans to produce a record 10.3 million vehicles globally this year, refreshing an all-time high for the company for a second straight year, supported by an easing chip shortage and robust demand for hybrid cars.
The target, according to Toyota's major parts suppliers, is for Toyota and Lexus brand cars and does not include production by its small-car unit, Daihatsu Motor Co., which last month stopped all shipments at home and abroad following its discovery of safety test cheating.
The world's biggest automaker produced 9.23 million units from January to November last year, already a new single-year record. The figure for December, which has yet to be made public, is likely to show that the automaker produced over 10 million units annually for the first time.
Domestic production is expected to exceed 3 million units for two consecutive years, a level Toyota says is needed to sustain its operations at home without job cuts.
