Toyota RAV4, Camry and other vehicles at risk of limited supply
That Toyota RAV4 you’ve been thinking about buying?
You might have to wait a while. Toyota has announced temporary vehicle production cuts at operations in Japan and North America due to the global shortage of semiconductor chips. The move is expected to further cramp the availability of new Toyota cars and trucks, which have already been in short supply in some cases. What vehicles will be limited? “A little bit of everything,” said Toyota spokesman Scott Vazin.
The slowdown in production affects all of the company’s North American plants, including factories in Indiana and Kentucky, and is expected to last through September and “likely” into October, Vazin said.
A shortage of new vehicles caused by the chip shortage has rippled across the auto industry, driving up used car prices to record highs and making currently leased vehicles more valuable. In some cases, used cars are increasing in value, shocking analysts who have long noted that cars are a depreciating asset.
Toyota has 14 plants in North America, including 10 in the U.S., with a total of more than 176,000 employees. The automaker’s U.S. plants made about 1 million of the 2.1 million vehicles the
company sold in America in 2020.