Toyota and Honda post strong production numbers while Nissan and Subaru struggle

February 2022 was a strong month for Toyota and Honda's global vehicle production, although their Japanese counterparts Nissan and Subaru struggled due to supply shortages.

Despite announcing production cuts throughout April thanks to a projected lack of supply, Toyota was able to make a total of 740,996 vehicles in the second month of the year. This was 10.9 per cent more than the same point last year due to a new record high of 487,738 vehicles built outside of Japan.

The manufacturer also sold 701,339 units globally during the same month, although this was 1.5 per cent down on February 2021 levels despite Australian sales jumping up by 14 per cent to 20,886 units delivered.

4

As reported by Reuters, Honda also enjoyed a strengthened February with an 8.4 per cent increase on vehicles produced, rising to 344,712 units for the month, despite its North American production facilities reportedly being affected by ongoing supply chain issues.

Honda's Australian sales aren't reflective of its global production efforts though, with the 1408 vehicles sold last month representing a 30 per cent decrease on the year prior.

4

Nissan couldn't match the efforts of Toyota and Honda due to its own semiconductor shortages, with a total of 275,437 vehicles produced resulting in a 7.8 per cent year-on-year reduction.

Like Honda, its Australian sales have also suffered to start the year, with 2820 units shifted last month and 5154 year-to-date representing drops of 26 and 32 per cent respectively, mainly due to supply chain issues.

4

Worst-hit of the bunch was Subaru, with its monthly production dropping by 23.6 per cent to 47,625, confirming its heavily affected supply chain and high number of semiconductor-based parts.

However, in Australia at least, its February sales increased more as a percentage than any of its Japanese counterparts last month, with the 19.4 per cent jump coming thanks to a total of 3151 vehicles sold.