Top Japanese automakers including Toyota were forced to halt production in Russia as Western sanctions that followed its invasion of Ukraine scrambled logistics and cut supply chains, deepening the country’s economic isolation, Reuters reports.
Toyota Motor also said its vehicle exports to Russia had stopped indefinitely, following similar moves by local rivals Honda Motor and Mazda Motor.
Many Western companies have spurned Russia following its attack, with some saying they would exit investments there, but some Japanese firms have taken a more equivocal stance.
“Toyota is watching the ongoing developments in Ukraine with great concern for the safety of people of Ukraine and hopes for a safe return to peace as soon as possible,” it said in a statement.
Toyota is Russia’s top Japanese brand, producing about 80,000 vehicles at its St. Petersburg plant which employs 2,000 staff.
The business status of Toyota’s European operations is as follows:
- Toyota in Ukraine (sales and after sales operations; 37 retail locations) has stopped all activities as of 24 February.
- Toyota in Russia (sales and after sales operations; 168 retail locations; and one plant in St Petersburg manufacturing RAV4 and Camry models for the Russian market mainly): Toyota Motor Russia will stop production at its St-Petersburg plant from 4 March and has stopped imports of vehicles, until further notice, due to supply chain disruptions.
- Other manufacturing and sales operations in the rest of Europe are not impacted.
Global car companies including Mercedes-Benz, Ford and BMW have also stopped making and exporting cars to Russia and the world’s biggest shipping lines, MSC and Maersk suspended container shipping to and from the country.
Fitch and Moody’s on Wednesday each downgraded Russia’s sovereign credit rating by six notches to “junk” status, saying Western sanctions threw into doubt Russia’s ability to service its debt and would weaken its economy.
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