Toyota Production Still Suffering from Parts Shortages
Tim Esterdahl | Nov 07, 2011 | Comments 2
Parts shortages in Japan that have continued to linger since the March earthquake and corresponding Tsunami are expected to continue thanks to floods in Thailand. These shortages are affecting everything from the selection of cars at your local dealership to canceling overtime at U.S. manufacturing plants.
Parts Shortages will result in slower production of Toyota vehicles like this Tundra.
The parts shortage has also affected your wallet with the expected retail incentive showdown now unlikely to take place in the last few months of 2011.
Recently U.S. retailers confirmed that fully-stocked inventories were unlikely to be a reality until 2012. Many retailers stated that they did not expect to be fully restocked until the end of the third quarter.
In spite of these shortages, Toyota’s sales have taken a sharp rise in the final months of 2011. AutoNation Inc, the United States’ largest dealership, is expecting more than 30,000 vehicles from Japanese car makers, including Toyota, during the last three months of 2011. This is up from a normal shipment of 25,000. Group 1 Automotive, the fourth-largest retailer, recently said that they expect their supply of Toyotas to keep improving, though many stores were nearly out of popular cars such as the Toyota Camry by late September.
Other car retailers say that they hope stocks will be near normal levels by Presidents Day in February 2012 and the start of the busy selling season in the spring.
The double whammy of the natural disasters and now parts shortages means Toyota will most assuredly be looking to regain its share in the market in 2012.
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Filed Under: Auto News
guess going to have to wait until end of 2012 to receive 3K or greater in rebates since 2011’s are in short supply maybe and no big rebates?
mk – My guess is that Toyota won’t go beyond $3k – they’ll just push 0% financing. Sticking with financing offers has less impact on resale value.