Toyota extends NorthAm auto cutbacks into October

Japanese automaker Toyota Motor extended its cutback of tens of thousands of new vehicle builds in North America into October as semiconductor shortages continue to weigh on the industry

The company expects to cut the production of 60,000-80,000 vehicles in October.

The announcement comes after in mid-August Toyota announced it would cut production by 60,000-90,000 vehicles in August and another 80,000 vehicles in September.

The average North American vehicle consumes 1,980lbs of steel, of which approximately 1,480lbs are flat-rolled products, and 486lbs of aluminum, according to data from the American Iron and Steel Institute's (AISI) Automotive Program.

Considering Toyota's expected cuts over the three months, it would mean a loss of 198,000 short tons (st) to 247,500st of steel consumption, of which 148,000-185,000st would be flat-rolled products, and lost consumption of 48,600-60,750st of aluminum.

The estimate of unrecoverable vehicle production in North America has risen to 1.54mn vehicles, which would represent lost steel consumption of 1.52mn st in 2021, according to AutoForecast Solutions. Another 395,000 vehicles are listed as at risk, which would be another 391,000st, while another 355,000 vehicles are listed as recoverable.

Toyota's announcement comes after General Motors (GM) announced it was taking more outages at five of its plants, with the majority related to semiconductor supply issues.

Stellantis also announced closures at two of its plants, while Hyundai and Kia announced they had recent closures at their plants in Alabama and Georgia, respectively.

By Rye Druzin