Toyota halts car production
Toyota today announced production at its factories in France and Britain will be stopped for nine days amid falling sales it partly blamed on its recent recall problems.
It will suspend output at it plant in France for four days starting on April 6.
It will also stop production at its two factories in Britain.
“In France, we’re reviewing production because of the impact of recall problems,” a spokeswoman said.
The closures in Britain were part of previous plans, she said, but also due to sluggish car sales in Europe.
In early June, Toyota also plans to halt one of its two assembly lines at its Burnaston plant in Britain for another five working days, she said.
The stoppages come after Toyota recalled 8.5 million vehicles globally over braking problems in its Prius hybrid, sticky accelerator pedals and pedals that stuck under floor mats.
Toyota’s sales in the EU sank 20% in February from a year earlier – even though overall EU car sales rose 3%.
In the US sales fell 9% in February, prompting the company to launch a series of incentives to lure back buyers.
