Toyota says output to return to normal later this year

Toyota Motor Corp said it expects its production to make a full recovery by November or December, around nine months after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan's northeast and disrupted the supply of key auto parts.

Toyota, the world's largest automaker, said that production would start to normalise in July in Japan and around August at overseas operations, with a complete recovery to come globally by the end of the year.

Toyota and other Japanese automakers have been hit hard by a supply disruption of mostly electronic and resin-based parts made in Japan's northeast, which was battered on March 11 by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake and a tsunami towering more than 10 metres.

Toyota has announced plans for production cuts in Japan, North America and China through June 3, and in Europe through the end of May. It has said it would decide on plans beyond that as it gets updates on parts availability.

In a sign of recovery, Japan's Renesas Electronics Corp, a major supplier of chips to the auto industry, said on Friday that it would resume operations at a damaged factory north of Tokyo on June 15, a few weeks ahead of schedule. The news from Renesas, which has a 40 per cent market share in automotive microcontroller chips, pushed Japanese auto stocks sharply higher, reversing earlier losses.

Toyota ended up 3.1 per cent, while Nissan Motor Co put on 3.6 per cent and Honda Motor Co gained 2.3 per cent.