AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/25 Report--

The production line at Toyota's Miyada plant, which produces Lexus-branded cars mainly for the Chinese market, has been closed due to the re-infection of employees with novel coronavirus.

Toyota announced today that the second production line at the company's Miyada plant in Kyushu has been suspended because its employees were infected with COVID-19, and the time for resumption has not yet been set, according to the Nippon Keizai Shimbun.

Toyota Kyushu Miyada plant has two production lines, which mainly produce luxury brand Lexus models, including CT, ES, NX, UX, RX and other series. more than 90% of the factory output is supplied to overseas markets, mainly exported to the Chinese market.

As all Lexus-branded cars sold by Toyota in China are imported, the future pick-up dates of Chinese Lexus consumers will be affected. Such as the ES and other best-selling models, the general contract agreed that the pick-up time is about three months, the factory shutdown will inevitably affect the delivery time.

In addition, Toyota has decided to temporarily close seven production lines at five factories in Japan from next month due to a shortage of spare parts, reduced global orders and falling demand. Among them, the Miyada factory of Kyushu Company plans to stop production from April 3 to 15.

Now there is a case of novel coronavirus infection among employees at the factory, which further affects the production plan.

Prior to this, there have been two cases of infection at Toyota's Japanese plant. An employee at Toyota's Takaoka plant developed symptoms of fever on March 14 and tested positive for the coronavirus on March 19. Another male employee in his 20s also tested positive for novel coronavirus. The employee was examined on March 21 and confirmed on March 22. Both employees work on the same production line at the Takaoka plant, which Toyota has decided to close from March 23 to March 25 to disinfect the workplace and consider further measures to prevent the virus from spreading.

Global sales figures from Lexus in 2019 show annual sales of 765300 vehicles, up 10 per cent from a year earlier. Among them, the cumulative sales of Lexus in the Chinese market reached 200000, up 25 per cent from the same period last year.

Some netizens believe that this incident may speed up Lexus's domestic plan in China. Lexus China has previously confirmed the existence of this consideration, it said, "We have been conducting research and consideration on the issue of localization, and there is no specific time for localization."

Some netizens are also worried that the extra price increases will increase as a result of supply disruptions caused by factory shutdowns, a shortage of terminal vehicles, or a further backlog of short-term orders.

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