Toyota announced Monday that it would temporarily shut down its domestic production lines.
The automaker described the issue as a “supplier system failure” in a statement to Reuters. Specifically, Kojima Industries Corp — who supplies a host of components for Toyota vehicles — believes it was the victim of a cyberattack. The supplier did not provide additional details, at time of writing.
As it suspended production across all its lines in Japan, Toyota did not say whether the shutdown would only affect production on Tuesday, or if it may last longer. Accounting for one-third of its production capacity, the company stands to lose around 13,000 cars should it only shutter operations for the Tuesday shifts.
Neither company mentioned who could have perpetrated the cyberattack. The timing coincides with Japan’s decision, along with the United States and several other countries, to cut off Russia’s access to the SWIFT international payment system as the country invaded Ukraine last week. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also pledged $100 million in emergency aid, and cybersecurity officials as well as US officials noted Russia may ramp up cyberattacks against countries that support Ukraine. However, Kishida said, “It is difficult to say whether this has anything to do with Russia before making thorough checks.”
Further, he said his government would launch an investigation into the incident.
Toyota’s latest halt comes as it still tries to navigate other supply chain disruptions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The automaker has counted on “just-in-time” manufacturing — having as little components on-hand as possible to maximize efficiency — and it remains unclear how this will impact its 2022 performance until production resumes.
