Toyota’s Output Makes Like a Yo-Yo in October

Just about every single automaker on the planet has been plagued by production disruptions and supply chain headaches, leading to lots that were deader than disco on occasion and bereft of product to sell. At Toyota, production numbers are up compared to this time last year – but down from the month prior.

Whilst some outlets may breathlessly and blindly report that Toyota exceeded targets and saw a 23 percent production increase in October this year, it is important to know that percentage is compared to the terrifyingly low numbers of October 2021 when things were very bleak for the Big T. As for exceeding targets, it’s worth noting that said targets are Toyota’s own ambitions, ones which were revised downward prior to the release of today’s numbers.

In October, Toyota built 771,382 vehicles globally, beating its internal estimate of three-quarters of a million units. Drilling a bit further, that number was divided into 203,149 in Japan (up 33.7 percent and 568,233 outside Japan (up 19.5 percent). Subsidiaries Daihatsu and Hino contributed extra units, for those interested in those two brands rarely seen in our country. Even though worldwide production is up for the third consecutive month in terms of year-over-year increase, it was down from the more than 887,000 vehicles produced in September.

Still, the brand is selling every vehicle it can produce. Worldwide sales of Toyota vehicles through the first 10 months of this year total just shy of 8 million units (7,931,178 for all you pedants who like to be exact). This compares with worldwide Toyota production of a hair under 7.5 million units during the same timeframe from New Year’s to Halloween. Automotive News is reporting that Toyota figures they will produce 9.2 million units in total this fiscal year, which ends March 2023 for some ungodly reason. That’s up about a half-mil from last annum.

Here at home, Toyota and Lexus combined sales through the first three quarters of this year are down 15.4 percent, sitting just south of 1.6 million units. It’ll surprise no one the biggest individual seller is the RAV4, finding 303,341 new homes so far in 2022, down from 313,447 same time last year. That model is followed by the Camry and Corolla, then closely by the Highlander. In fact, every single model is off the pace compared to last year, save for the newly introduced Tundra which has added 14.6 percent to its volume in the first 10 months of 2022. 

Statistically speaking, the GR86 is up over 800 percent as well but that’s down to a switchover from the Gen1 to the Gen2 car. We won’t knock it – the GR86 remains one of the most entertaining cars we’ve driven this year.

[Image: Toyota]

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