Toyota Australia says it’s not affected by semiconductor shortage, won’t delete tech from cars

Toyota says it is doing its best to keep up with unprecedented demand for new motor vehicles as the Australian economy recovers faster than expected from coronavirus lockdowns and border restrictions.

Australia’s largest car company has reported record demand for much of its line-up in the wake of last year’s lockdowns as an increasing number of customers treat themselves to a new car, ute, or four-wheel-drive as they plan to holiday at home.

While Hyundai is reporting chronic delays of up to 11 months – and Mercedes and BMW have deleted advanced safety tech on certain models due to the semiconductor shortage – Toyota says previous crisis management experience overseas has helped the global car giant better prepare for unforeseen production interruptions.

“Due to forward planning, the supply of semiconductors is not the issue for Toyota that it is for other companies, particularly in Europe,” said Sean Hanley, vice president of sales, marketing and franchise operations for Toyota Australia.

“Our parent company learnt a lot when its supply chain was destroyed following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami,” said Mr Hanley.

“As a result, they now regularly examine multiple tiers of suppliers, discovering at an early stage which suppliers and parts are at risk. In fact, our global purchasing group communicates with suppliers as many as 10 times a day when the parts supply situation is severely tight.”

This enabled Toyota to “secure inventory for semiconductors months in advance,” said Mr Hanley.

Asked to clarify if its strong supply of semiconductors was indefinite, Mr Hanley said: “We’re analysing this by the day. We are less affected by the semiconductor issue because of all inventory that we have on hand, (but) we are analysing any future impact versus demand as we go forward.”

When asked if Toyota would delete technology – as Mercedes, BMW and Peugeot have done on certain models, to keep production lines moving – Mr Hanley said: “Our preference would be to move production schedules accordingly, if we had to. We have no plans to despecify vehicles.”

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