Companies across the auto industry are taking measures to conserve cash as they face uncertainty both with regard to how soon they’ll be able to reopen operations and how long it will take for demand to recover. Tesla Inc. and BMW AG have also announced plans within the past day to furlough thousands more American workers.
Toyota is extending the shutdown of its North American vehicle and parts factories a third time, citing the coronavirus outbreak and weak demand. The automaker now intends to reopen the facilities on May 4, two weeks later than planned.
Read more on Honda and Nissan’s furloughed workers
Toyota will continue to pay full-time production workers, though the company is asking them to either use two paid-time-off days during the longer shutdown, or forgo two days of pay.
The automaker’s U.S. sales plunged 37 percent last month to just 135,730 cars and trucks, its worst March since 2011, when a tsunami hit Japan and disrupted North American imports of vehicles and parts. Industrywide, U.S. deliveries ran at the slowest pace in a decade and are expected to fall further in the months to come.
Toyota has also idled factories in Europe and curbed production in Japan and elsewhere in Asia. It’s offered to help boost production of medical supplies in both the U.S. and Japan.
