NAGOYA/TOKYO – Japan Today
Toyota Motor Corp said Thursday it will suspend operations at its plant in St Petersburg from Friday due to supply chain disruptions amid growing concern over the impacts of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
In related moves, Honda Motor Co has suspended shipments of vehicles and motor bikes to Russia, while Mazda Motor Corp is also planning to halt exports of auto parts to its factory in the country amid fear of potential financial turmoil stemming from sanctions, company officials said Wednesday.
Toyota’s factory in St Petersburg, which has an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, manufactures the RAV4 sport utility vehicle and the Camry sedan.
Toyota said in a press release that operations at its St. Petersburg plant will be stopped “until further notice,” while noting that the company’s manufacturing and sales operations in the rest of Europe will not be affected.
“We are also monitoring global developments and will make necessary decisions as required,” it said.
The Japanese auto giant started production in Russia in 2007 and last year manufactured about 80,000 vehicles in the country. Toyota has its local sales base in Moscow.
Honda’s decision to stop shipments to Russia came as the carmaker had long planned to end its exports to the country in fiscal 2022, which runs through March, due to a continued slump in sales.
As it does not have a local production base in Russia, Honda had been exporting vehicles from the United States. It sold 1,406 units in Russia in fiscal 2020.
Mazda, which has a joint-venture factory in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East region, exports auto parts from Japan and handles assembly at the factory.
Among other Japanese automakers which have local factories in Russia, Mitsubishi Motors Corp may suspend operations while Nissan Motor Co will closely assess the situation, according to officials of the companies.