TOKYO (Reuters) – Toyota Motor’s July global sales rose 8% from the same month a year earlier to a record 859,506 vehicles, the Japanese automaker said on Wednesday, a day after a system malfunction shut output at all of its domestic assembly plants.
The world’s top-selling automaker also reported a 15% increase in global production in July.
Toyota has now posted year-on-year increases in global sales for six months running and production for seven, highlighting its recovery from last year’s supply chain snarls and COVID-19-containment measures.
Both figures include Toyota’s Lexus luxury brand.
Numbers for August – which will not be available until next month – are likely to be hit by Tuesday’s output suspension. Toyota is restarting operations at its Japan assembly plants on Wednesday following a system glitch that prevented it from ordering components.
The company continues to investigate the cause of the malfunction, but has said it was not due to a cyberattack.
In China, sales fell 15% in July. That contrasted with stronger sales in Japan, the United States and Europe. Domestic sales rose 35% and those in the U.S. increased by 8%.
(Reporting by Daniel Leussink; Writing by David Dolan; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
